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Title: Northwestnet NUSIRG Internet Guide
Author: Jonathan Kochmer
Editor: Dr. Eric S. Hood
Dan L. Jordt
Posting Date: December 17, 2011 [EBook #40]
Release Date: September, 1992
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTHWESTNET NUSIRG INTERNET GUIDE ***
NorthWestNet
User Services Internet
Resource Guide
(NUSIRG)
Third Edition
March,1992
On-Line PostScript Version 1.0, March 24, 1992
Author: Jonathan Kochmer
Executive Editor: Dr. Eric S. Hood
Technical Editor: Dan L. Jordt
Production Manager: Schele Gislason
Copyright (c) 1991 by the NorthWestNet Academic Computing Consortium, Inc.
A product of NorthWestNet and the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium, Inc.
All rights reserved. NWACC permits the copying of NUSIRG or parts of NUSIRG for research and educational
purposes only, provided that appropriate attribution is given to both NWACC and NorthWestNet. The
requirement for appropriate attribution will be satisfied by the inclusion of this copyright page with every copy.
Resale of NUSIRG is expressly prohibited without written permission from NWACC, Inc. NWACC, Inc. makes
no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, with regard to the contents of this Guide, nor shall be liable in any
event for incidental or consequential damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of this document.
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
How To Get NUSIRG ......................................................................................................................... i
About NorthWestNet........................................................................................................................... iii
NorthWestNet Acceptable Use Policy ................................................................................................. v
NSFNET Backbone Services Acceptable Use Policy........................................................................... vi
NorthWestNet Network Operations Center (NOC) .............................................................................. vii
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. ix
SECTION 1: NUSIRG, THE INTERNET, AND YOU ........................................................................ 1
Chapter 1: Overview of the NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
(NUSIRG) ............................................................................................................................. 2
Chapter 2: The Internet.......................................................................................................... 6
SECTION 2: THE BASIC TOOLS...................................................................................................... 18
Chapter 3: Electronic Mail..................................................................................................... 20
Chapter 4: Using FTP ............................................................................................................ 39
Chapter 5: TELNET .............................................................................................................. 53
Chapter 6: "Archie": The FTP Archive Guru.......................................................................... 65
SECTION 3: COMMUNICATING WITH PEOPLE............................................................................ 70
Chapter 7: Using USENET .................................................................................................... 71
Chapter 8: LISTSERV Discussion Lists................................................................................. 87
SECTION 4: KNOWLEDGE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS...................................................................... 94
Chapter 9: Electronic Journals ............................................................................................... 96
Chapter 10: Electronic Books ................................................................................................ 98
Chapter 11: Accessing Library Catalogs Through The Internet .............................................. 103
Chapter 12: Internet Accessible Databases and Bibliographies............................................... 119
Chapter 13: WAIS ( Wide Area Information Server ) : An Interface to Databases.................. 148
Chapter 14: Internet Directory Services ................................................................................. 159
SECTION 5: EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS.................................................................................. 170
Chapter 15 : Using the Global Internet in K-12 Education ..................................................... 171
SECTION 6: EMPOWERING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH .................................................................. 216
Chapter 16: Using Supercomputers on the Internet ................................................................ 217
Chapter 17: Supercomputer Site Descriptions ........................................................................ 230
Trademarks and Copyrights................................................................................................................. 264
How Did We Do?................................................................................................................................ 266
INDEX................................................................................................................................................ 270
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
i
How To Get NUSIRG
THE NORTHWESTNET USER SERVICES INTERNET RESOURCE GUIDE
You can either get NUSIRG at no charge by the Internet "File Transfer Protocol" (FTP), or you can purchase a
bound copy from NorthWestNet. If you have a connection to the Internet, you are encouraged to follow these
instructions for using FTP to obtain NUSIRG. If you can't use FTP (or don't know how yet!), instructions on how
to order a printed and bound copy from NorthWestNet are included on the next page.
Free Copies of NUSIRG By File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
NUSIRG is available at no charge, by FTP, as text-only or PostScript files. The text-only files are in a simple
format which can be printed by most kinds of printers or viewed on-screen with most text editors. The PostScript
files produce output which is essentially identical to the bound version of NUSIRG.
If you have access to a computer connected to the Internet, all you have to do is follow the simple instructions
below.
Note:
commands you type are shown in the left hand column in lower case (don't type the #'s!);
UPPER CASE and ">" indicates prompts from the computer that will appear on your screen.
What you type (or what you'll see)
Explanation
1) ftp ftphost.nwnet.net
Connect to the NorthWestNet FTP host.
2) LOGIN: anonymous
At the "LOGIN:" prompt enter "anonymous".
3) PASSWORD: your-user-id@address
At the "PASSWORD:" prompt, please enter your
[email protected] (e.g.,
[email protected]).
4) FTP> cd nic/nwnet/user-guide
Change directories (cd) to the directory containing
FTP copies of NUSIRG.
5) FTP> get README.nusirg
Use the "get" command followed by a filename from
the list on the next page to copy a file; get
"README.nusirg" first, which contains the most upto-date information about NUSIRG files.
6) FTP> ls
The "ls" command will produce a listing of the
names of the files in the NUSIRG directory (see
below).
7) FTP> quit
The "quit" command will end your FTP session.
The file "README.nusirg" contains more detailed information about the files in the NUSIRG directory.
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
Files in the NUSIRG directory
README.nusirg
nusirg.beginner.overview.ps
nusirg.beginner.overview.txt
nusirg.email.ftp.telnet.ps
nusirg.email.ftp.telnet.txt
nusirg.listserv.usenet.ps
nusirg.listserv.usenet.txt
nusirg.online.info.resources.ps
nusirg.online.info.resources.txt
nusirg.supercomputers.ps
nusirg.supercomputers.txt
nusirg.teach.k-12.ps
nusirg.teach.k-12.txt
nusirg.whole-guide.ps.tar.Z
nusirg.whole-guide.txt.tar.Z
ii
Description of file's contents
A detailed description of NUSIRG files.
Overview of NUSIRG and the Internet.
Basic Internet tools: e-mail, FTP, TELNET.
Using USENET and LISTSERV.
Electronic books, libraries, databases, etc.
Supercomputer use and access information.
The Internet and K-12 education.
All of NUSIRG in compressed and archived format.
Notice that the file names above occur in pairs differing only in the last parts of their names. Files ending with
"ps" are in PostScript format and cannot be printed unless you have access to a PostScript printer.
You should not copy the files whose names end with "tar.Z" unless you know how to handle compressed and
archived files, which is explained in the file "README.nusirg".
Printed Copies From NorthWestNet
If you would prefer to purchase an already printed and bound copy (or if you are unable to use FTP), NUSIRG is
available for $20.00 per copy from NorthWestNet.
postal mail:
NorthWestNet
NUSIRG Orders
15400 SE 30th Place, Suite 202
Bellevue, WA 98007
e-mail:
phone:
fax:
[email protected]
(206) 562-3000
(206) 562-4822
Please make your check or money order payable to NorthWestNet.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about NUSIRG, please send e-mail to [email protected]
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
iii
About NorthWestNet
NorthWestNet is a regional computing and digital communications network founded in 1987 by the Directors of
the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium, Inc. (NWACC). The NWACC mission is to promote research,
education and economic development by providing access to network communications, computing and electronic
information systems and services throughout the Northwest. In 1988 NWACC was incorporated in the state of
Oregon as a not-for-profit corporation. NorthWestNet is wholly owned, operated and managed by NWACC.
NorthWestNet is an independent, regional sub-unit of the Interim National Research and Education Network
(NREN) currently managed and operated by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
A national movement is growing to build a permanent National Research and Education Network (NREN) to
enhance the nation's and each state's educational, research, and economic competitiveness and productivity.
NREN is designed to provide the primary information linkage among the nation's knowledge-based organizations
including higher education institutions, scientific laboratories, and industrial research units. The general
architecture of NREN has three levels: a federally-sponsored interstate foundation (backbone) network; midlevel
networks providing broad, regional connectivity and expected to be partially self-supporting; and self-sponsored
individual campus, government agency, industrial and federal laboratory networks distributing information to their
end users.
NorthWestNet is a regional (midlevel) network which is cooperatively addressing the high-performance
computing and networking needs of the Northwest within the scope of the NREN policies. NorthWestNet serves
higher education institutions, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations and industry in six states (Alaska,
Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and Washington). Since NorthWestNet was established in 1987, our
network connectivity has expanded from 11 originator members to over 60 sites. Similar growth is expected over
the next five years as NorthWestNet expands and enhances network services offerings and marketing efforts.
NorthWestNet is financially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), institutional
membership dues and network service fees. In April 1991 the NSF confirmed renewal of NorthWestNet's core
grant, first approved in 1988. Under the terms of the grant renewal, NSF has committed funds totaling nearly two
million dollars distributed over the next three-year contract period. NWACC revenues and annual operating
budgets for the next three fiscal years are expected to exceed one million dollars annually.
In 1989 NWACC initiated a strategic planning process to chart the future course for NWACC and NorthWestNet.
The resultant plan recognizes the special needs of the northwestern United States, a geographically large, yet
sparsely populated area. Current markets for NorthWestNet services are rapidly expanding and broadening,
extending past the conventional education and research communities to industry, government agencies and health
care organizations. Technical and operational implementation of the NorthWestNet Strategic Plan are now in
progress. NorthWestNet is already upgrading network equipment, operations, and user services offerings. The
NorthWestNet Network Operations Center (NOC) facilities management agreement with the University of
Washington was formalized in June 1991. NorthWestNet currently offers a variety of information and user
support services.
For the past three years, NorthWestNet has published for its membership an Internet Users Training Manual. This
new "NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide" (NUSIRG) is another step in our user services
support. NUSIRG is available in both hardcopy and electronic formats to anyone using the Internet.
Technical seminars and training courses are presented each autumn at our NorthWestNet Annual Meeting.
Seminars and workshops on a variety of topics are presented by regionally and nationally recognized network
engineers, communications technicians and user services specialists. A special training track for new
NorthWestNet member institutions will also be offered beginning October 1991.
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
iv
Workshops for researchers and scholars providing training in the use of high-performance computing systems and
networked information resources are offered periodically and are also held in conjunction with our Annual
Meeting.
To facilitate communication among participants in our numerous committees and working groups, NorthWestNet
operates and maintains electronic mail exploders for the NWACC Board of Directors and Executive Committee,
the NorthWestNet Technical Committee and Configuration Subcommittee, the User Services Committee and the
Editorial Review Board.
NorthWestNet maintains and offers via anonymous FTP a modest collection of regional and national networking
policies, working papers and operational documents on our network information server.
We are also vigorously pursuing the development of new programs focusing on high performance computing and
parallel processing, electronic library resources and networked information services, K-12 educational
networking, and health care information and delivery systems.
Over the next five years, NorthWestNet is committed to servicing the needs of its expanding membership by:
❏
❏
❏
❏
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Providing its members from education, government, not-for-profits and industry with the ability to
access and to share advanced computing and information systems (especially data bases and
electronic library resources) using high-speed telecommunications facilities;
Seeking, promoting, and supporting methods and tools for assisting users to access and to share
information in an interactive, convenient, integrated and easy-to-learn manner;
Expanding NREN access to K-12 schools and education districts, health care organizations and
economic development groups;
Encouraging and enhancing education, research, and development by providing value-added network
services in support of northwestern interests;
Promoting affordable and, if possible, subsidized national, and international electronic access for all
regional education and research organizations;
Encouraging and facilitating collaboration among educational institutions, government, not-for-profit
agencies and industry. Opportunities include (1) sharing computing and information resources, (2)
sharing procurement and (3) transferring technology;
Being a leader, both regionally and nationally, in the efforts to establish a regional electronic sharing
of resources; and
Being recognized by its membership and funding agencies as a provider of excellent quality services
and support.
The NWACC Executive Director, on board since June 1991, has established a home office for the NorthWestNet
staff in the principal market city of Seattle. The Executive Director provides leadership and manages the network
under the general direction of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. The Executive Director's
staff coordinates network operations, technical planning and management activities, network information service
delivery, network user training and educational services, and marketing and general network administration.
The futures of NWACC and NorthWestNet are truly bright. In the Northwest's rapidly growing, technology-based
and -driven economy, the demand for computing, electronic communications, and information services is ever
increasing. With our expanded and enhanced network and computing service offerings, NorthWestNet
membership and revenues are both projected to continue increasing rapidly through the mid-1990s.
Dr. Eric S. Hood
NWACC Executive Director
September 1991
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
v
NorthWestNet Acceptable Use Policy
NorthWestNet is a regional data communications network serving a consortium of universities and research
groups in the northwestern United States. Its goals are summarized in the Articles of Incorporation for the
Northwest Academic Computing Consortium, Inc.. All use of NorthWestNet facilities must be consistent with the
goals and purposes of NorthWestNet. The intent of this statement is to describe certain uses which are consistent
with the purposes of NorthWestNet, not to exhaustively enumerate all such possible uses.
Some acceptable uses of NorthWestNet facilities include:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Use for scientific research or instruction at member and associate member institutions through the
provision of high-speed data communications;
Use as a vehicle for scholarly communications;
Use as a means for NorthWestNet members to access remote computing resources for the purpose of
scientific research or instruction. Notable examples of such resources are the NSF supercomputing
facilities;
Use necessary to support other acceptable uses. For example, administrative communications which
are part of the support infrastructure needed for research and instruction are acceptable. Similarly,
communications directly between non-member institutions in support of research or instruction at
member institutions is acceptable;
Use required by agreements with NSF, the primary funding agency for NorthWestNet;
Use by member institutions as a laboratory for research and experimentation in computer
communications, where such use does not interfere with production usage. However, any
experimental use requiring modification to router software or protocol layers below ISO layer 4
requires prior review by the Technical Committee.
In general, commercial and general administrative use are prohibited. Use for scientific research or instruction at
non-member institutions and at for-profit institutions may or may not be consistent with the purposes of
NorthWestNet, and will be reviewed on a case by case basis.
Use of NorthWestNet for any illegal purpose, or to achieve unauthorized access to systems, software, or data is
prohibited.
NorthWestNet is a production communications network on which many researchers depend. Uses that
significantly interfere with the ability of other users to make effective use of the network are not acceptable.
Version 2.0
May 12, 1988
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
vi
NSFNET Backbone Services Acceptable Use Policy
GENERAL PRINCIPLE:
(1) NSFNET Backbone services are provided to support open research and education in and among US research
and instructional institutions, plus research arms of for-profit firms when engaged in open scholarly
communication and research. Use for other purposes is not acceptable.
SPECIFICALLY ACCEPTABLE USES:
(2) Communication with foreign researchers and education in connection with research or instruction, as long as
any network that the foreign user employs for such communication provides reciprocal access to US researchers
and educators.
(3) Communication and exchange for professional development, to maintain currency, or to debate issues in a
field or subfield of knowledge.
(4) Use for disciplinary-society, university-association, government-advisory, or standards activities related to the
user's research and instructional activities.
(5) Use in applying for or administering grants or contracts for research or instruction, but not for other
fundraising or public relations activities.
(6) Any other administrative communications or activities in direct support of research and instruction.
(7) Announcements of new products or services for use in research or instruction, but not advertising of any kind.
(8) Any traffic originating from a network of another member agency of the Federal Networking Council if the
traffic meets the acceptable use policy of that agency.
(9) Communication incidental to otherwise acceptable use, except for illegal or specifically unacceptable use.
UNACCEPTABLE USES:
(10) Use for for-profit activities (consulting for pay, sales or administration of campus stores, sale of tickets to
sports events, and so on), or use by for-profit institutions unless covered by the General Principle or as a
specifically acceptable use.
(11) Extensive use for private or personal business.
This statement applies to use of the NSFNET Backbone only. NSF expects that connecting networks will formulate their own
use policies. The NSF Division of Networking and Communications Research and Infrastructure will resolve any questions
about this Policy or its interpretation.
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
vii
NorthWestNet Network Operations Center (NOC)
Much recent national attention has focused on improving the quality of Internet connectivity services by
enhancing "end-to-end" network management. In the three tiered hierarchy of the Internet, high priority has been
placed upon the critical role of the midlevel networks in delivering quality connectivity services. "Hardening the
regionals" has emerged as the phrase most often used to describe the portion of this new national initiative. Given
the recent consensus regarding the importance of "end-to-end" network connectivity focused on mid-level
networks, this brief summary of NorthWestNet's Network Operations Center (NOC) has been included in this
Guide.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this document is to identify the functions that the Network Operations Center (NOC) will provide
to maintain the operational integrity of the network. This document is available via anonymous ftp on
ftphost.nwnet.net in local/nwnet/doc/uw-nwnet.noc.
NETWORK MONITORING, REPAIR, AND TROUBLE TRACKING
The NOC will provide real-time network monitoring and repair at the layers one (1) through four (4) in the OSI
model. The link state of each NorthWestNet circuit will be queried periodically (approximately once a minute) by
a Network Management Station (NMS). The NMS will be monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This NMS is
expected to provide a real-time view of the entire network, and to have some rudimentary network diagnosis tools
available to operators to identify common or general problems with link layer connectivity.
The level of staffing is expected to vary between primary shifts (approximately 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday
through Friday), and the secondary shifts (the complement of the primary shift hours). The primary shift will have
skilled network analysts available and trained in more complex network diagnostic tools. These analysts will be
able to assist in problem diagnosis and resolution at the Network and Transport Layers. The secondary shift
operators will be expected to recognize simple circuit outages (at the Physical and Link Layers), and initiate work
orders with telecommunications providers. Once an outage or problem is identified, it will be tracked with a
trouble ticket system to help provide consistency across multiple shifts and to identify reoccurring problems.
CIRCUIT COMMISSIONING AND EQUIPMENT INSTALLATION
The NorthWestNet NOC will configure the equipment necessary to facilitate member connections to the network
and deliver it to the member site. If the technical representative of the member institution requires additional
support to complete the installation, the NOC will endeavor to assist. The NOC will also assist the public
telecommunications providers in specifying and commissioning the required data circuits.
EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE AND UPGRADE
The NOC will reconfigure and coordinate upgrades of the NorthWestNet managed equipment as necessary. In
case of a hardware failure, the NOC will ship a spare to the member institution's technical representative, not later
than the next business day following discovery of the problem.
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
viii
DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS REPOSITORY
The NMS will act as a repository for network management tools. Tools in the public domain, developed locally
by programming staff or available to the NOC through licensing agreements, will be stored on and available from
the NMS.
NMS DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The NMS periodically (approximately every 15 minutes) will query each router to retrieve a set of Management
Information Base (MIB) variables that can be considered useful for diagnosis and analysis. This data will be
stored on the NMS and made available for report generation or post-processing analysis. Rudimentary programs
will be available to query this database and generate graphs as aids to problem diagnosis and reporting. Simple
monthly reports on outages and circuit usage will also be derivable from this data.
INVENTORY AND REVISION CONTROL
The NOC will keep a database of NorthWestNet owned equipment, including serial numbers, revision levels,
component types, equipment locations, etc..
DOMAIN NAME SERVICE
Upon the request of a member, the NOC will provide interim primary or continuing secondary Domain Name
Service. Members may request interim primary DNS from the NOC, which implies that all host name additions,
changes, or deletions be done by NOC staff. When a member site is able to provide its own primary DNS, the
NOC will, if requested, continue to provide secondary DNS.
AGENCY INTERACTION
The NOC will interact with national, regional, and member network agencies, as well as telecommunications
providers and equipment vendors to facilitate transitions in network topology, resolve outages, or provide other
operational assistance as required.
SUPPORT FOR HUB SITES
The NOC will assist technical staff at NorthWestNet hub sites in resolving connectivity problems. This assistance
will be mainly in the form of consulting by phone and e-mail.
NETWORK ENGINEERING
With consultation from and review by the NorthWestNet Technical Committee, the NOC will provide network
engineering services to define and implement a network topology and architecture that will achieve
NorthWestNet's connectivity and cost objectives as set forth by the NorthWestNet Management Committee.
Version 2.1, June 1991
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
ix
Acknowledgements
It is perhaps appropriate that a book which is meant to demonstrate the extraordinary wealth of resources available
on the Internet was written using the Internet itself as the main source of information. Only a very small set of
printed books were consulted during the preparation of this document. Therefore, primary thanks go to the
Internet itself, for being such a treasure trove of information!
Snippets of information were collected from tens of thousands of postings in many discussion groups, including
USENET, LISTSERVers, and Internet Interest groups. I thank everyone who so willingly shares their knowledge
in these forums. Reading typical questions from new Internet users posted in these forums was also invaluable for
helping to determine what should be included in an entry-level Internet guide. Another useful source of
information was existing, online Internet documentation written by Internet user services staff around the world,
and a large number of helpful documents about the Internet written by individuals on their own initiative, and
shared on the Internet.
I am very thankful to Larry Gales of the University of Washington, who wrote the chapter on Supercomputer
Access, and to user services staff at the supercomputer sites for providing up-to-date descriptions of their state-ofthe-art sites.
Very useful support, reviews, corrections and suggestions were provided throughout this project by the NUSIRG
Editorial Review Committee: Dorette Dusterhoff, Eric Hood, Janaka Jayawardena, Dan Jordt, Dick Markwood,
Paul Mauvais, Danny Raphael and Sandy Sprafka.
Special thanks go to Danny Raphael (Director of User Services, University Computing Services, University of
Washington), who loaned me a Macintosh computer and a modem for the duration of this project. Most research
and writing was done from my home, which became an "electronic cottage" in the global village by virtue of a
simple modem connection to the Internet. This Users Guide is proof that anyone in the world can access the
wealth of Internet resources from their own homes with minimal hardware and software requirements.
NUSIRG was written in three very hectic and obsessive months, July through September, 1991. I'd like to thank
my friends and family for their support and understanding while I was transformed into a "virtual knowbot in
cyberspace."
Jonathan Kochmer
The Cottage
Seattle, Washington
October 6, 1991
Introduction
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
1
SECTION 1: NUSIRG, THE INTERNET, AND YOU
Chapter 1: Overview of the NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
(NUSIRG) ............................................................................................................................. 2
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 2
What is The Internet?............................................................................................... 3
How To Use NUSIRG.............................................................................................. 4
Master Electronic Mail, FTP and TELNET; From There On, Explore!..................... 4
Communicate With NorthWestNet User Services..................................................... 5
Chapter 2: The Internet.......................................................................................................... 6
General Introduction ................................................................................................ 6
Overview of the Internet .......................................................................................... 7
Non-Internet Networks............................................................................................. 12
For More Information About The Internet ................................................................ 13
Section 1: NUSIRG, the Internet, and You
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
2
Chapter 1: Overview of the NorthWestNet User
Services Internet Resource Guide (NUSIRG)
When people ask for education they normally mean something more than mere training,
something more than mere knowledge of facts, something more than a mere diversion.
Maybe they cannot themselves formulate precisely what they are looking for; but I think
what they are really looking for is ideas that would make the world, and their own lives,
intelligible to them. When a thing is intelligible, you have a sense of participation...
E. F. Schumaker
Small Is Beautiful (pg. 84)
Once you get started, you'll start to understand...
Overheard in a crowd
INTRODUCTION
Most of us use complex technologies like automobiles, televisions, or telephones every day, without knowing
exactly how they work. We take it for granted that when we turn on a radio we'll hear news or music, and that
when we start a car we'll get to where we want to go.
Until very recently, using computer networks was like using a car in the beginning of the 20th century.
Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton made comedies featuring wrestling matches with temperamental cars. It was
funny because everybody knew you couldn't drive to the next town without getting greasy up to your elbows at
least once. The technology was still being perfected, and sometimes it was hard to get where you were going.
It was also hard to figure out how to find the places you were looking for.
There's an old joke in New England about a city slicker asking for directions from a farmer sitting on his front
porch. The farmer says, "You can't get there from here." As a person who grew up in the country, I've always
thought this was short for saying, "well, I could give you directions, but unless you grew up in these parts, you
probably won't understand anyway...."
But things have changed with automobiles, and they're beginning to change with computer networks.
Computer networks have jumped the first hurdle on the path which all technologies must run. They are now
usually very reliable. Most of the time, you can press a few buttons and know that your message will be received
by someone thousands of miles away, in a few seconds. Today, global computer networks are being used daily by
millions of people who don't know much more about computers than the average person knows about the inner
workings of a television set.
Chapter 1: Overview of the NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
3
The purpose of NUSIRG is to help network users get over the second great hurdle of new technologies: Now that
computer networks are reliable, what can they be used for? And once you know what can be done, you'll learn
"how to get there from here." You can think of NUSIRG as a set of basic driving lessons, and a glove
compartment full of "road maps" to the many interconnected routes and valuable services that together comprise a
worldwide computer network known as "The Internet" (See Chapter 2: The Internet).
WHAT IS THE INTERNET?
The Internet is a world-wide network of networks which is able to inter-connect computers ranging from the
simplest PCs to the most sophisticated mainframes. Internet users can use the Internet for an extraordinary range
of purposes - long distance collaborations, freely copying programs and documents to and from remote computers,
accessing library catalogs, logging in to supercomputers - the list of current Internet activities is large and the
range of possible future applications is as unlimited as our imagination.
The Internet is huge. As of June, 1991, it was estimated that the Internet is comprised of more than 5,000
networks connecting more than 350,000 computers. In fact, because it is in direct communication with satellites
far above us, the Internet is already bigger than the earth.
The Internet is used by a large and diverse community of people. An estimated 3,500,000 people from many of
the world's nations use the Internet, and this number is continuing to grow exponentially.
The Internet is also incredibly complex. There probably isn't a single person who understands everything about it.
Remember this whenever you get confused, and you'll probably feel better!
But once you've mastered a few basic skills, the Internet is easy to use. Already, there are thousands of
elementary school students in the world engaging in global communication through the Internet, and millions of
other people from all walks of life who count on the Internet as an integral part of their day-to-day educational
and research activities.
Chapter 1: Overview of the NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
4
HOW TO USE NUSIRG
...a book is more than a verbal structure, or a series of verbal structures; a book is the
dialogue with the reader, and the peculiar accent he gives to its voice, and the
changing and durable images it leaves in his memory. That dialogue is infinite.
Jorge Luis Borges
"For Bertrand Russell"
Use NUSIRG Either As A Book Or As Individual Documents
NUSIRG has been written so that it can be used either as a unified book, or as stand-alone chapters to teach you
about specific Internet resources. Regardless of which way you use NUSIRG, each chapter will give you an
indication of which other chapters of NUSIRG or other sources of Internet documentation will provide necessary
background, or more detailed treatment of the topic at hand.
Customize Your Copy Of NUSIRG!
This document will be most effective if it is a continuing dialogue, between you, the Internet, and NorthWestNet
User services.
NUSIRG is meant to be a document that you can easily customize to your particular level of expertise and sets of
interests. It is hoped that everyone who uses this guide will get some of the many documents referenced at the
end of every chapter, and put them in the appropriate locations in their own particular version of NUSIRG. This
document will have succeeded in one of it's primary goals if there are as many versions of NUSIRG as there are
NUSIRG users, just like everybody's glove compartment contains a different collection of road maps.
Most of the documents referenced can be obtained, for free, through a computer connected to the Internet.
Getting free information is one of the easiest and most important networks skills you will learn.
NUSIRG has been written for anyone who uses the Internet: from kindergarten teachers at small and isolated rural
schools, to the most sophisticated supercomputer users at major urban research institutions. Throughout, every
attempt has been made to keep the text simple without being simplistic, and thorough without being thoroughly
overwhelming.
MASTER ELECTRONIC MAIL, FTP AND TELNET; FROM THERE ON, EXPLORE!
Every Internet user is different, but nonetheless most network activities are based on three basic skills: using
electronic mail, copying files from remote computers (FTP), and logging in to remote computers (TELNET). It is
also a good idea to get an overview of the Internet as a whole. You should read through the chapters on the
Internet, electronic mail, FTP, and TELNET first, unless this material is already old hat to you. Although the
remainder of NUSIRG is designed in a somewhat incremental fashion, you should be able to bounce around
between chapters without too much difficulty once you've mastered the basic "Internet-working" skills.
Most chapters have the following structure (where "x" is the topic of the chapter):
Chapter 1: Overview of the NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
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5
"What is x ?"
"What is x used for?"
"What do I need to know before I start using 'x'"
A general overview of x
A short example using x
A longer example using x with step-by-step explanations
"For more information on x...."
Because the Internet is able to support a tremendous diversity of hardware and software, it is sometimes
impossible to present an example which is guaranteed to work for everyone. In such cases, a "generic example" is
presented to illustrate the essential features of a particular Internet topic. When necessary, you should obtain
appropriate documentation from your instructor or user services staff on how a particular application is used at
your site. By the winter of 1991, you'll be able to access a collection of such documentation in the computer
archives of the NorthWestNet Network Information Center, but this service is not yet available.
COMMUNICATE WITH NORTHWESTNET USER SERVICES
If you are a computer instructor or user services staff member, feel free to duplicate and distribute any or all parts
of NUSIRG, for your students or clients, provided that appropriate attribution is given to both NWACC and
NorthWestNet. The requirement for appropriate attribution will be satisfied by the inclusion of the inside
cover/copyright page with every copy. If you make significant changes to the documents, indicate that your
document is a modified version of NUSIRG. And, if you feel the changes you make result in notable
improvements of the document, please send us a copy so the next edition of NUSIRG can be even better! All
comments and suggestions from anyone using NUSIRG will be gladly taken, and, when possible, will be used to
improve the next editions. At the end of the guide there is a "User's Feedback Form" which you are encouraged to
fill out and return to NorthWestNet user services.
Welcome to the Internet - you are now a participating member of a global village!
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Chapter 2: The Internet
Is it a fact ... that by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve,
vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time? Rather, the round globe is a
vast head, a brain, an instinct with intelligence! Or, shall we say, it is itself a thought,
nothing but thought, and no longer the substance which we deemed it!
Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The Internet is a world-wide computer network which allows you to communicate with millions of other Internet
users and to use the resources of computers throughout the world. No matter how humble your own computer
might be, if it is connected to the Internet, you have a virtually unlimited wealth of resources available for your
every day use.
To whet your appetite for "Internet-working," here's a partial list of the many ways you can use the Internet:
Communicating with other people:
❏
❏
❏
exchange electronic mail
engage in online, real time discussion with other Internet users
subscribe to discussion or subscription groups of people sharing your interests
Accessing the resources of other Internet computers:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
browse through electronic library catalogs
copy computer files or software from archives
access databases for teaching or research
obtain free electronic books
use educational and information services
find Internet directory services
access supercomputer sites
The details of how you can do all of this (and more!) is described in the rest of the chapters of NUSIRG.
This document is intended to give you a brief description of what the Internet is and how it works.
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OVERVIEW OF THE INTERNET
What Is A Computer Network?
A computer network can be as simple as two computers in an office connected by a cable.
A simple computer network linking identical computers can be very useful in situations where all users are
performing the same tasks, for example in a classroom or a business office. This kind of a setup allows files and
mail to be transferred between the computers of the network, and may allow access to a centralized "hard disk" for
sharing software, data files, and printers. But until the mid 1970's, it was difficult to link, or "internetwork,"
networks containing different kinds of computers.
What is An "Internet?"
Although simple computer networks are useful, a network which connects a variety of computers with distinctive
features offers much more flexibility to its users. In such a network, you can use one kind of computer to rapidly
perform complex calculations. When the first computer is done, you could use a network to send the output to a
different computer more suited for easy preparation of colorful graphs.
But just like people can best communicate when they speak the same language, computers can best participate in
a simple network when they use the same hardware and software to code, transmit, and receive data.
An "internet" is a more complex kind of computer network which allows computers with distinctive software and
hardware to communicate by translating messages to a mutually understandable "communications protocol." The
first real internet, ARPANET, arose from research supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA),
now DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The standardized communications protocols which made the ARPANET possible evolved from the early NCP to
today's "TCP/IP Protocol Suite."
TCP/IP makes certain that two computers reach an agreement about the basic rules of data exchange, and
guarantees that messages are properly packaged and transmitted through the network. (References to detailed
descriptions of the many activities of TCP/IP are listed at the end of this document). TCP/IP is one of the
fundamental building blocks upon which standardized services can be built across diverse computers.
What Is The Internet?
❏
❏
❏
❏
The Internet is a network of networks, all of which use the TCP/IP protocol suite as their standard
communications protocols;
The Internet interconnects supercomputers, mainframes, workstations, personal computers, and even
laptop computers and packet radios;
The Internet is huge; as of 1991 it comprises more than 5,000 networks, serving over 350,000 hosts
and is used by more than 3.5 million people. These numbers will continue to grow every day!;
Perhaps most importantly, the Internet is a global village of Internet users who can communicate
across the planet as easily as you might walk to your next door neighbor's house.
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Internet Addresses
Please read this section carefully. In order to communicate and navigate within the Internet global village, you
have to know how to read and write Internet addresses. You need to specify an Internet address every time you
send mail to an Internet user, or when you access Internet services like electronic library catalogs.
Internet addresses are very similar to postal mail addresses in form and function. For example, here's how
someone from another country might address a letter to someone in the United States:
Jane Q. Public
11 Maple Street
Seattle,
Washington
USA
The address starts with a person's name. The next three lines provide increasingly general information about
where she lives, from street to country. Since streets are in cities, cities are in states, and states are in countries,
this can be described as a hierarchical addressing scheme.
Computers accessed by users of the Internet are "network hosts." Each network host has an "address," using the
same sort of hierarchical addressing scheme as postal addresses, by which it is known to computers and users of
the network. Most of the time, you will be able to use Internet addresses in the Domain Name System (DNS)
format.
Suppose that Jane Q. Public has an account on an Internet computer at the University of Washington. (Her
Internet address might look like the first line; her postal address is shown in the same format, on the second line,
to illustrate the basic similarity between the two systems):
Internet:
US Mail:
[email protected]
JaneQPublic,11MapleStreet,Seattle,Washington,USA
The Internet address contains the following parts:
jqpublic
@
ibmpc23
biology
washington
edu
a "user-id" (User Identification)
"this user-id is located at"
a particular Internet host within
the biology department at the University of
Washington campus network, within
the Internet in Washington State, within
the education-oriented portion of the Internet in the U.S.
While using the Internet, you may encounter or need to use another style of Internet address, which contains
numbers instead of letters. This numeric addressing system is called the IP address and is in fact the addressing
system by which computers are known to other computers (The Domain Name System is a convenience for us
human beings, who are better at reading and remembering letters and words.)
For example, the hypothetical computer at the University of Washington which is called
ibmpc23.biology.washington.edu
in the Domain Name System might have the following IP numeric address:
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128.95.10.207
Notice that this IP address has four parts, just like the Domain Name System address. Although it may be
tempting to think that the four words separated by dots in the Domain Name System translate directly to the four
numbers in the IP address, this is not the case. A more appropriate analogy is the way names are paired with
phone numbers; they may be assigned and reassigned arbitrarily.
Domains and Hosts
The first part of an Internet address in DNS format always represents the name of an individual computer, or
"host." The rest of the name represents "domains" and "subdomains," which are hierarchically arranged.
Consider the following three addresses:
nwnet.net
stis.nsf.gov
nri.reston.va.us
(host.domain)
(host.subdomain.domain)
(host.subdomain.subdomain.domain)
The last part of an Internet address in DNS format always represents a "top level" domain. Within the United
States, here are some of the top level domains that have been assigned:
ARPA
COM
EDU
GOV
MIL
NET
ORG
US
Advanced Projects Research Agency
Commercial organizations
Educational and research institutions
Government agencies
Military agencies
Major network support centers domain
Other organizations
U.S. geographical domains (e.g., WA.U.S.)
The Internet As A Network Of Networks
The worldwide Internet is currently composed of more than 5000 component networks, all of which use the
TCP/IP Protocols.
Many of the details of the organization and administration of the Internet within the United States could be
drastically altered by pending legislation to establish a National Research and Education Network (NREN).
Consequently, the information in this section is purposely fairly general. But at the very least, this section
provides a broad-brush description of how the Internet in the United States is organized, as of the autumn of 1991.
How the Internet Is Structured Within The U.S.
Internet networks within the United States are organized hierarchically into national, regional, and various sorts of
local networks. The purpose of each network is to provide Internet services to a particular geographic region or
constituency.
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National Networks Providers
National networks provide high-speed, long distance computer communication across the United States. At the
present time, there are several distinct national level networks operated by various U.S. government agencies, notfor-profit organization, and commercial enterprises.
Although all of these networks span the nation, often have sites at the same locations, and all use the TCP/IP
protocols, they are, for the most part, logically and administratively distinct entities that internetwork only through
one or a few gateways.
The most prevalent national network for the Internet user at higher educational institutions is NSFNET, which
serves as the backbone connecting most regional educational networks.
Here's a brief summary of some of the most widely used national networks in the Internet.
❏
NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network) was originally created to facilitate reliable
communication between universities and to provide easy access to NSF-sponsored supercomputers.
Its focus has now broadened to provide Internet connectivity to smaller colleges and post-secondary
educational institutions.
❏
UUNET is a non-profit organization which provides electronic mail connectivity to more than 1,000
subscribing sites.
❏
ESnet (Energy Sciences Network) is operated by the Department of Energy, and is comprised of
what were formerly HEPNET (High Energy Physics Network) and MFENET (Magnetic Fusion
Energy Network), which connects physics departments conducting research in magnetic fusion
energy.
❏
DDN (Defense Data Network) is funded by the Department of Defense, and itself contains a number
of national level networks (ARPANET, DISNET, MILNET, SCINET, and WINCS) devoted to
military communications.
❏
NSN (NASA Science Network) is for NASA staff, and research and academic sites performing
NASA sponsored research who need access to a number of scientific databases and supercomputer
sites.
❏
SPAN (Space Physics Analysis Network) is a data comparison network for researchers in Solar,
Terrestrial, and Interplanetary Physics, but has since expanded to cover other disciplines. SPAN's
primary services are for NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (the
European Space Agency).
❏
USAN (University Satellite Network) serves organizations doing research in the atmospheric and
oceanographic sciences, featuring satellite access to the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR) supercomputer facility.
Regional Internet Networks
Most regional Internet networks were created by funding from the National Science Foundation to provide
networking services to universities and research institutions in specific geographic regions within the U.S.. Like
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the national Internet networks, most regional Internet networks have a Network Information Center and a Network
Operations Center.
NSF-funded regional networks are connected to NSFNET at a "backbone site." For example, NorthWestNet (a
regional network serving the northwestern U.S., including Alaska) is linked to NSFNET at the University of
Washington in Seattle.
The existence of regional Internet-based networks is generally not perceivable to the average Internet user, much
as the existence of regional phone companies is usually not apparent to you when you make a long distance phone
call.
Many university Internet hosts are also beginning to act as local hubs to provide Internet access for primary and
secondary schools.
Here is a list of some of the regional networks:
BARRNet:
CERFnet:
CICnet:
JVNCNet:
Los Nettos:
MIDnet:
MRNet:
NEARnet:
NorthWestNet:
NYSERNet:
PREPnet:
Sesquinet:
SURAnet:
THEnet:
WESTNET:
"Bay Area Regional Research
Network (San Francisco)"
"California Education and Research Federation
Network"
"Committee of Institutional Cooperation Network"
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota,
Ohio, and Wisconsin
"John von Neumann Center Network"; originally a supercomputer
access network, now a regional serving the mid-Atlantic states
A regional network for the Los Angeles area
A regional network for the Midwestern states
Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,
Nebraska, Oklahoma
"Minnesota Regional Network"
"New England Academic and Research Network"
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire Rhode Island, Vermont
A regional network for the northwestern states
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon,
Washington
"New York State Educational and Research
Network"
"Pennsylvania Research and Economic Partnership
Network"
"Texas Sesquicentennial Network"
"Southeastern Universities Research Association
Network"Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,
West Virginia
"Texas Higher Education Network"
A regional network for the Rocky Mountain states
Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah,
Wyoming
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Internet Network NICs and NOCs
Most national and regional Internet networks have a NIC (Network Information Center) and a NOC (Network
Operations Center).
A network's NIC provides centralized support for users and User Services staff throughout their network. Typical
NIC activities can include: preparing, distributing, and maintaining documentation for network users, publication
of newsletters; maintenance of a central computer archive of information files or other resources; and educational
training classes for the users and network staff of member institutions.
A network's NOC deals with the operational aspects of running the network, including installation and
maintenance of the network's hardware and software; daily monitoring and troubleshooting of the network's
activity; and establishing connections to new network sites. NOC staff may also field questions from technical
representatives from member institutions and from institutions which are contemplating connecting to the
network.
Supercomputer Access Oriented Internet Networks
Finally, several Internet networks are dedicated to providing local access to the various NSF-sponsored
supercomputer sites:
LANL:
NCSANet:
PSCNET:
SDSCnet:
Los Alamos National Laboratory Integrated
Computing Network
"National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Network" Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Network
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma
San Diego Supercomputer Center Network
Statewide and Within-State Networks
Almost all 50 states currently have active statewide networks in place. Some of them use the TCP/IP protocols,
thereby allowing attached computers to inter-communicate when connected to the Internet.
Metropolitan networks are a more recent entry to the network world. As the name suggests, these networks are
designed to provide network services to geographically-restricted metropolitan regions.
NON-INTERNET NETWORKS
There are several very important national level computer networks in the United States which do not use the
TCP/IP protocols, and thus, are not technically part of the Internet.
From an Internet user's perspective, a significant difficulty with non-Internet networks is that it is not possible, or
at least very difficult, to perform remote logins to computers in such networks.
Nonetheless, you can communicate with users and computer on many non-Internet networks via e-mail messages
sent to electronic mail "gateways." Gateways are responsible for translating messages created for transport across
TCP/IP networks into messages that can be transported by the other networks.
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Such gateways allow you to send mail to users on such non Internet networks, and in some cases allows you to
access valuable services which are offered by these networks.
Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN)
CREN is an umbrella organization which was responsible for two national networks, BITNET and CSNET. As of
October 1991, CSNET was no longer operational. BITNET, however, is still a major provider of national
educational networking.
BITNET--"Because It's Time Network"--was designed to facilitate electronic communications among universities
throughout the world. BITNET is a strongly multi-disciplinary network with users in all academic fields. BITNET
is of interest to Internet users because of a variety of unique and valuable services such as mature and widely used
file and discussion list servers (such as LISTSERV). Like the Internet, BITNET has sister networks throughout
the world which share network protocols (such as EARN, the European Academic and Research Network). The
services of BITNET and its related networks are readily accessible to Internet users through gateways at several
sites which are connected to both the Internet and to BITNET. For more information about electronic mail
gateways, refer to Chapter 3 of NUSIRG.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE INTERNET
Although most information on the Internet is available as online documents, there are several notable printed
books on The Internet specifically, and networking generally.
Published Books And Articles About Internet Networks
Frey, D. and R. Adams. 1990 !%@:: A Directory of Electronic Mail Addressing and Networks. O'Reilly and
Associates, Sebastopol, CA.
LaQuey, T. L. 1989. "Networks for Academics," Academic Computing 4(3):32-39. Academic Computing
Publications, Inc.., McKinney, TX.
LaQuey, T. L. 1990. User's Directory of Computer Networks. Digital Press, Bedford, MA.
Quarterman, J. S. 1989. "Etiquette and Ethics," ConneXions - The Interoperability Report 3(4):12-16. Advanced
Computing Environments, Mountain View, CA.
Quarterman, J. S. 1990. The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide. Digital Press,
Bedford, MA.
Stoll, C. 1989. The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage, Doubleday, New
York, NY.
Published Information About Internet Protocols
Comer, D. E. 1991. Internetworking With TCP/IP. Volume 1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture. Prentice
Hall, Inc.., Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
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Garcia-Luna-Aceves, J. J., M. K. Stahl, and C. A. Ward. 1989. Internet Protocol Handbook: The Domain Name
System (DNS) Handbook. SRI International, Network Information Systems Center, Menlo Park, CA.
Stallings, W. 1990. Handbook of Computer-Communications Standards Volume 1: The Open System (OSI)
Model and OSI-Related Standards; Volume 2: Local Area Network Standards; Volume 3: The TCP/IP Protocol
Suite. Macmillan, New York, NY.
About "Online" Internet Information
The Internet is, to a large degree, self documented. There is an enormous amount of "online" information stored
on computers throughout the Internet. A large percentage of such online information can be retrieved by using
FTP (File Transfer Protocol), a tool for copying information to and from Internet computers. For detailed
information on how to use FTP, refer to Chapter 4 of NUSIRG.
About Requests for Comments (RFC's)
RFC's are an essential source of information about the Internet. As of September 1991 there were more than
1,000 RFC's containing general information, technical specifications about the "nuts and bolts" of the Internet, and
occasional general essays of interest to Internet users. Complete sets of RFC's are available in many "FTP
archives"; one currently authoritative source of RFC's is:
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
nnsc.nsf.net
rfc
rfc-index.txt
rfc1000.txt
(a current index of all RFC's)
(each RFC is named rfcXXXX, where "XXXX" is
the RFC number, e.g., rfc1000)
etc...
Online Overviews About Internet Networks
Bowers, K., T. LaQuey, J. Reynolds, K. Roubicek, M. Stahl and A. Yuan. 1990 RFC 1175: FYI on Where to
Start - A Bibliography of Internetworking Information.
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
nnsc.nsf.net
rfc
rfc1175.txt
Spurgeon, C. 1990. Network Reading List. The University of Texas at Austin Computation Center, Austin, TX.
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
emx.utexas.edu
pub/netinfo/docs
network-reading-list.txt
network-reading-list.ps
(ASCII format)
(PostScript format)
NSF Network Service Center. (ongoing). Internet Resource Guide. NSF Network Service Center, Cambridge,
MA
FTP Host:
directory:
nnsc.nsf.net
resource-guide
Chapter 2: The Internet
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
file:
README
15
(copy this file with FTP for instructions on the
options you have for FTP'ing or subscribing to the
NNSC Internet Resource Guide)
Online Information About Internet Protocols
Hedrick, C. L. 1987. Introduction to the Internet Protocols. Rutgers University Computer Science Facilities
Group, Piscataway, NJ.
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
topaz.rutgers.edu
pub/tcp-ip-docs
tcp-ip-intro.1
tcp-ip-intro.2
Hedrick, C. L. 1988. Introduction to Administration of an Internet-based Local Network. Rutgers University
Computer Science Facilities Group, Piscataway, NJ.
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
athos.rutgers.edu
runet
tcp-ip-admin.doc
tcp-ip-admin.ps
(ASCII format)
(PostScript format)
Krol, E. 1989. RFC1118: "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet. University of Illinois Urbana, UrbanaChampaign, IL
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
nnsc.nsf.net
rfc
rfc1118.txt
Oganizations And Periodic Conferences Relevant to Internet Users
ACM SIGCOMM Symposium
The Association for Computing Machinery
11 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036-8097
phone: (212) 869-7440
fax:
(212) 869-0481.
IDG Communication Networks Conference & Exposition
IDG Conference Management Group
P.O. Box 9171
Framingham, MA 01701
phone
fax:
(800) 225-4698
(508) 879-6700
(508) 872-8237
Chapter 2: The Internet
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16
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Corporation for National Research Initiatives
1895 Preston White Drive
Suite 100
Reston, VA 22091
Attn: IAB Secretariat
e-mail: [email protected].
Internet Society
1895 Preston White Drive
Suite 100
Reston, VA 22091
e-mail: [email protected]
INTEROP Conference and TCP/IP OSI/ISO ISDN Internetworking Tutorials
Interop, Inc..
480 San Antonio Road
Suite 100
Mountain View, CA 94040
phone: (415) 941-3399 or
(800) INTEROP
fax:
(415) 949-1779.
National Net Conference, and EDUCOM Conference.
EDUCOM
1112 16th Street, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
phone: (202) 872-4200.
Chapter 2: The Internet
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NREN
By time you read this, NSFNET and similar national Internet networks may have been renamed "The National
Research and Education Network" (NREN). In November of 1991, President Bush signed the High-Performance
Computing Act which authorized the creation of a permanent NREN. The bill allocated $2.9 billion over the next
five years to enhance the United States' high-performance computing and communications infrastructure.
Information on the NREN is available electronically from:
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
nis.nsf.net
nsfnet
all files
There are also online discussion groups dealing with NREN related issues:
Group Name
To Subscribe
[email protected]
[email protected]
e-mail to [email protected]
e-mail to [email protected]
Chapter 2: The Internet
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SECTION 2: THE BASIC TOOLS
Chapter 3: Electronic Mail..................................................................................................... 20
Getting Started with Electronic Mail ........................................................................ 20
Electronic Mail Etiquette ......................................................................................... 28
Electronic Mail Gateways: Sending Mail Beyond The Internet ................................ 34
Chapter 4: Using FTP ............................................................................................................ 39
What is FTP? ........................................................................................................... 39
Anonymous FTP and FTP Archives ......................................................................... 39
How Information is Arranged in FTP Hosts.............................................................. 40
Using Anonymous FTP ............................................................................................ 41
Full Service FTP ...................................................................................................... 46
The ABC's of Handling Special Files ....................................................................... 49
Chapter 5: TELNET .............................................................................................................. 53
Using TELNET........................................................................................................ 53
TELNET Trouble-Shooting...................................................................................... 63
What Resources Can Be Accessed With TELNET? ................................................. 63
For More Information On TELNET ......................................................................... 63
Chapter 6: "Archie": The FTP Archive Guru.......................................................................... 65
What Is Archie? ....................................................................................................... 65
What Is Archie Used For? ........................................................................................ 65
How Does Archie Do It?!......................................................................................... 65
What Kinds of Questions Can Archie Answer? ........................................................ 65
How Do You Use Archie?........................................................................................ 66
Things To Keep In Mind Before You Use Archie..................................................... 68
For More Information About Archie......................................................................... 69
ELECTRONIC MAIL, FTP, AND TELNET
Section 2 of NUSIRG introduces you to the three basic tools for using the Internet. Once you've
mastered Electronic Mail, FTP, and TELNET, you will be able to take advantage of most all Internet
services.
ELECTRONIC MAIL (E-MAIL)
Electronic Mail is used to send messages to other people and even programs on other computers. You'll
learn the basic principles of using e-mail within the Internet, and "e-mail etiquette" which apply to all
forms of electronic communication with other people. At the end of this sub-section, you'll learn how to
use "mail gateways" to send e-mail messages to users and computers which are not part of the Internet
networks.
Section 2: The Basic Tools
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
19
FTP
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is for copying information from one computer to another. By knowing
how to use FTP, you will be able to access free information from computers throughout the world. As
you will notice, many of the documents to which you are referred for more information throughout
NUSIRG are from FTP archives, so you'll have many opportunities to practice your FTP skills! This subsection also includes information on how to handle archived, compressed, and binary files, which require
special attention during or after an FTP transfer.
TELNET
TELNET allows you to actually login to and use many computers on the Internet. A modified version of
TELNET called "tn3270" is often used for accessing Internet services on IBM mainframes. You'll be
shown how to use TELNET to access many valuable Internet applications throughout the rest of
NUSIRG, including electronic library catalogs, online databases and Internet directory services. As
examples of TELNET services, you'll learn how to use a typical online Information Service, and the
"Archie" program, which is designed to search through hundreds of FTP archive catalogs around the
world.
Section 2: The Basic Tools
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Chapter 3: Electronic Mail
He opened the geography to study the lesson...they were all different places, that had
those different names. They were all in different countries...and the countries were in
continents, and the continents were in the world, and the world was in the universe. He
turned to the flyleaf of the geography, and read what he had written there:
Stephen Daedelus
Class of Elements
Clongowes Wood College
Sallins
County Kildare
Ireland
Europe
The Universe
James Joyce
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (pg. 15)
GETTING STARTED WITH ELECTRONIC MAIL
What Is Electronic Mail?
In most ways, electronic mail (or "e-mail") is very much like regular, postal mail. It is used to send letters or
other information to other people.
Instead of being delivered by the postal service to a person's house or business, e-mail is sent through a computer
network to a person's computer.
What Can You Do With Electronic Mail?
You can use e-mail for most of the same purposes for which you can use postal mail (except for mailing physical
objects).
Even better, an e-mail message usually gets to its destination in minutes or even seconds, rather than in days!
You can also use e-mail to communicate with special computers called "mail servers," which automatically
respond to certain commands, and can send you information or files back by e-mail. This document includes an
example of using a mail server so you can get some experience using e-mail on the Internet.
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What Do You Need To Know To Use Electronic Mail?
Because you probably already know how to write and send letters, you can understand e-mail by thinking about its
similarities to regular US postal mail.
Suppose you wanted to write a letter to your aunt Susan Rose Allen to ask if you could stay at her farm the second
week of July. All you'd have to do would be to:
1. write your letter;
2. put her name and address on an envelope;
3. and put your letter in a mailbox (Example 1).
Using e-mail is just as simple, and involves exactly the same three steps:
1. write your e-mail message on a computer;
2. include the person's user-id and e-mail address;
3. and then send your e-mail message!
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Example 1: A typical US mail letter:
James T. Allen
12345 NE 47th Ave.
Seattle, Washington (1)
June 1, 1991
Susan Rose Allen
Idaho Creek High School
12 Apple Tree Lane
Idaho Creek, Idaho
Dear Aunt Susan,
Do you think I could visit you the second week of July? I promise to help
you pick cherries from your orchard! Well, I'd better stop writing, the mail
truck is coming by in a few minutes. Please write back soon!
James
Example 2: A typical e-mail message:
Date:
From:
To:
Subject
Mon., 6 June 91 14:22 PST
[email protected]
[email protected]
My first e-mail message!
Dear Aunt Susan,
Thanks for letting me know I could visit starting July 15th. When I'm there,
do you think your friend the geology teacher, Bill Diaz, could take
me prospecting again in the mountains? I really enjoyed riding pack horses
into the canyon last summer!
Please send me a computer message back soon...This is my *first* time using
e-mail and I want to be sure this gets to you. I can't believe that I can use this
computer to write a message to you in Idaho!
- James
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1. Everybody Using The Internet Has A "User-id"
Before you mail a regular letter, the first thing you should know is to whom it will be sent. Usually, you'll put that
person's regular name on the envelope.
If you want to send e-mail to someone, you have to know their user-id. The term "user-id" is an abbreviation for
USER-IDentification, and is generally pronounced "user eye dee". User-ids are often assigned by computer
network authorities at a person's school or workplace.
Let's look at the beginning of the second and third lines of the simple e-mail message (Example 2):
From:
To:
jt_allen
sr_allen
The first line indicates that the message is from user-id "jt_allen" (James Trevor Allen) and that the message is
going to user-id "sr_allen" (Susan Rose Allen).
In this example, the user-id's are made in a very easy-to-understand way that you'll probably see very frequently.
Both of these user-id's were made by putting together a person's first and second initials, an underline, and then
the first five letters of their last name.
But don't forget, there are many other ways to construct user-ids!
Here are some other ways Susan Allen's name might be turned into a user-id at other Internet sites:
ALLSUSR
ALLENSR
SUSRALL
NRG1234T
(ALLen, SUSan, Rose )
(ALLEN, Susan, Rose )
(SUSan, Rose, ALLen)
(a completely arbitrary user-id assigned to Susan)
So just because you know someone's regular name doesn't mean you can guess their user-id. You usually need to
know a person's user-id before you can try to send them e-mail. Later in this user's guide, you'll learn how to find
a person's user-id if you already know their real name, but there are a few other things that we need to cover first.
If you're looking at Example 2 right now, you're probably wondering what the rest of the lines 2 and 3 are all
about.
What in the world does "[email protected]" mean?
It means where (at what computer) in the Internet world Susan Rose Allen, with user-id sr_allen, has a computer
account.
2. Every User-id Is At ("@") A Computer Address
Once you know a person's name, the next thing you have to know if you want to write them a regular letter is their
regular mail address.
The same is true for e-mail: you need to know that person's e-mail address. Luckily, Internet addresses are put
together in almost the same way as regular mail addresses.
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Look at Susan Allen's regular mail address in the US mail letter in Example 1. After her name, there are four
parts to her address. This address starts with the most local information (her school) and ends with the most
general (her state).
This standard way of writing an address helps the postal service find the right person in the right town in the right
state. After all, there might be 2 different Susan Allens in Idaho Creek, 20 different Susan Allens in Idaho, and
2,000 different Susan Allens in the United States!
Computer addresses (or domain names) usually follow the same rules as postal addresses for the same reasons.
Here are some important facts about Internet domain names:
❏
❏
❏
❏
You read a computer's Internet domain name left to right; the first name is usually the name of a
particular computer, and the last name is the abbreviation for a national or international computer
domain (e.g., "edu" for the EDUcational part of the U.S. portion of the Internet, "au" for the
Australian portion of the Internet, etc..).
Each part of a computer's domain name is separated by a period, instead of being on a new line.
E-mail addresses use many abbreviations.
The particular words in each part of a domain name may have meaning, only to site administrators.
Each site is responsible for choosing their own domain name, and the may as easily choose to name
their computers after a cartoon character or a famous author as after a geographical location.
For more information about Internet domain names, see "Internet Addresses" in Chapter 2.
Well, now, let's put Susan's postal and e-mail address into the same format and compare them:
e-mail:
US Mail
hs.idacrk.idaho.edu
HighSchool.IdahoCreek.Idaho.USA
How Do You Use E-mail?
There are many kinds of e-mail software programs, each with different special features--so it's impossible to
include instructions for every kind of e-mail software in this document. These instructions would be about 100
pages longer, and would contain a great deal of information that you--and many other people--wouldn't need!
Hopefully, your instructor or your computer center staff can help get you started with the particular e-mail
software used by your computers. But no matter what mail software you use, you will usually go through a few
simple steps when you send e-mail.
The Basic Steps For Sending E-mail
Step 1. You start a mail software package by typing it's name (or on computers like the Macintosh, clicking on an
icon). Mail packages are often called something like "mail" or a name containing the word "mail."
Step 2. You will usually be asked to supply one or more user-ids and e-mail addresses as your list of recipients.
Step 3. Very often you will be asked to supply a "subject," which should be a brief description of what the letter
is about. Many mail software packages offer additional useful features for the "envelope" of the electronic letter,
such as "cc:" for the sending of "carbon copies."
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Step 4. To draft your letter, you will usually then be able to use a mail editor, which is similar to a simple word
processing program.
Step 5. When you are done typing your message, you can send your e-mail message!
Receiving Incoming Mail E-mail
Usually the same mail software which allows you to write and send mail is also used for receiving and for
displaying your mail.
Incoming mail is usually stored in an electronic "mailbox" or "mailbook" which allows you to scan the subjects
and user-ids of mail that has been sent to you, just like you might riffle through a pile of mail that has arrived at
your house.
You can read the mail with the mail editor, and send a reply back to the user-id and e-mail address in the line
labelled "from."
Retrieving Files via E-Mail from Electronic Mail Servers
E-mail can also be used to send messages to computers on the network which will automatically send back
information that you have requested. Such computers are sometimes called "mail servers."
Electronic mail servers (sometimes referred to as "file servers") are programs which accept a few special
commands to retrieve files from "file archives."
To use an electronic mail server, send an e-mail message to the mail server's Internet address, and put requests to
the mail server in the body of your mail message. Sometimes, but not always, mail server commands can be
placed in the "subject:" line as well.
To get started with a mail server, you should try sending e-mail with the word "help" in the message. Often,
within a short time (usually minutes, but sometimes as long as a day) you should receive a message in your
incoming mail with a description of how to use that particular mail server, and sometimes, detailed descriptions of
what files that particular mail server contains.
There are many mail servers located throughout the Internet. Here's a brief list of some mail servers containing
files of general interest:
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E-Mail Address
Partial Description of Contents
[email protected]
Agricultural information,
Electronic Books
NASA and space related files
Many files useful for new Internet
users, such as "FAQ" files
(Frequently Asked Questions),
as well as a large number of
archives of USENET newsgroups
Mathematical source code and
algorithms.
A large collection of files on many
different topics: source code
for most kinds of personal
computers, archives of USENET
newsgroups.
Internet information files
including RFCs and FYIs
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
For example, you can send mail to a computer service run by the Oregon Extension Service called "Almanac"
which contains a wide variety of educationally valuable offerings such as "electronic books," and an enormous
amount of information from the Department of Agriculture which you can have sent to you simply by sending email.
In this example, you'll send a message to Almanac, requesting a copy of the Declaration of Independence!
Step 1. Start your mail program
Step 2. Address a mail message to the following Internet user-id and address:
[email protected]
Step 3. You don't have to include anything in the subject line
Step 4. In your mail editor, type the following message:
send guten dec-of-ind
"Guten" is short for "Project Gutenberg", a non-profit organization dedicated to creating free electronic versions of
the world's great literature and "dec-of-ind" is the file name for the Declaration of Independence.
Step 5. Send the mail message.
Step 6. In a short while, you should receive e-mail from Almanac. If you did everything right, it will be a copy of
the Declaration of Independence! If you made a mistake, the e-mail message from Almanac will give you a hint
about what you did wrong, and how to send a correct request.
If you want more information about Almanac, you can send an e-mail message to Almanac containing one of the
following messages:
send guide
(to get a copy of the Almanac Guide)
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send topic catalog
27
(to get a copy of Almanac's holdings).
For More Information About Electronic Mail
For more information about specific electronic mail software, consult your local users service staff or your
instructor. If you are using a mainframe computer, you may also be able to get help by typing "man mail" (on
UNIX computers), or "help mail" (on most other mainframes).
Many of the technical details about how e-mail is packaged and handled on the Internet are specified in the
following "RFCs" (Requests for Comments):
RFC822 Crocker, D.H. Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages
RFC821 Postel, J.B. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
RFC974 Partridge, C. Mail Routing and The Domain System
These and all other RFCs can be obtained from a number of FTP archives around the world. One currently
authoritative FTP archive for RFCs is:
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
nnsc.nsf.net
rfc
rfc-index.txt
rfc1000.txt
etc...
a current index of all RFCs
each RFC is named rfcXXXX, where
"XXXX" is the RFC number, e.g.,
rfc822
For more information about using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), refer to chapter 4 of NUSIRG.
For More Information About Electronic Mail Servers
Jonathan Kamens of MIT maintains a file called "How To Find Sources" which contains a listing of useful
electronic mail servers (along with many other useful sources of information). Rather appropriately, this file is
itself available from a mail server.
To get this file, address an e-mail message to:
[email protected]
containing the following message, all on one line, with every character entered EXACTLY as shown:
send usenet/comp.sources.wanted/How_to_find_sources_(READ_THIS_BEFORE_POSTING)
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ELECTRONIC MAIL ETIQUETTE
Undirected by culture patterns--organized systems of significant symbols--man's
behavior would be virtually ungovernable, a mere chaos of pointless acts and exploding
emotions, his experience virtually shapeless. Culture, the accumulated totality of such
patterns, is not just an ornament of human existence but ... an essential condition for it.
Clifford Geertz
The Interpretation of Cultures (pg. 46)
More often than not, what brings a stranger to his knees here is waving. Waving--it
looks like a simple act, but it's almost as complicated as spoken Minnesotan.
Howard Mohr
How To Talk Minnesotan (pg.182)
There are a number of important and generally agreed upon do's and don'ts which you should at least consider
when you use e-mail.
Of course, as with all kinds of etiquette, there are no absolute right and wrongs, only modes of behavior which are
deemed acceptable by the community of people with whom you are communicating. Therefore, these should be
treated as suggestions, rather than inviolable rules.
This list may seem long and somewhat arbitrary, but after reading many mail messages from many other people
(and examples 1 and 2, which, respectively, follow and violate these suggestions), you will probably understand
why these principles make good sense.
Etiquette and E-mail style
Here is a list of some simple guidelines or suggestions for using electronic mail acceptably:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Be brief. You can often fit everything you need to communicate in one screen of text.
Try to keep the length of the lines in your e-mail below 65 columns; short lines are easier to read,
especially on a computer screen, and other people's terminals may not be able to display more than 70
columns, so they may not be able to read the ends of long lines.
Use blank space between paragraphs or other logical units of text to break the text up for the eye.
Use mixed upper and lower case and standard capitalization. Mixed-case text is much easier to read than
all lower or all upper case; even worse, USING UPPER CASE WHEN YOU WRITE IS LIKE
SCREAMING WHEN YOU SPEAK!
Most computer terminals do not display underlined or italicized characters, which are commonly used to
provide emphasis in handwriting. So, if you want to emphasize something, you can use all-capital letters
for what you REALLY want to emphasize. Another way to emphasize a word is to put asterisks,
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❏
❏
29
underlines, or other special characters at the beginning and end of a word or phrase, like *this*, or like
_this_, or >even< like that!
Keep your paragraphs short; in general, fewer than 15 lines should be about right. (Notice how much
easier it is to read this paragraph than the one above.)
Avoid using control sequences (like "ctrl z") or special keys (like tab bars), even if they seem to work
fine while you are editing your mail document. Such special characters may alter the display of your
message making it virtually unreadable on the other person's computer terminal.
Etiquette and E-mail content
❏
❏
Begin your text with the name of the person to whom you are writing, just like you'd begin a regular
letter. Even though the person's name is in the mail header, starting your text with their name makes
your message seem more personal.
If you are responding to someone else's mail, you might want to include short, relevant passages from the
original message. This will be useful to establish context, or give your e-mail more of a conversational
tone. The standard convention used in the Internet community is to:
>
❏
❏
❏
begin each line from their message with a "greater than" sign, like this.
Some mail software allows you to automatically include someone else's mail message in your outgoing
message. You are then free to edit out the lines you don't want to include. Be careful *not* include their
entire message unless you have to! This wastes resources used for transmitting and storing mail, and may
waste the time of the person to whom you are writing.
Never forget that the person to whom you are sending mailing is another human being, with feelings and
beliefs that may be very different from yours! This can be easy to forget when you are sitting at a
computer terminal, writing a mail message to a person you might never have met in real life, and about
whom you may know very little.
In face-to-face conversation, there are many subtle cues provided by body language and intonation that
let us know how what we are saying is affecting the other person. These cues are completely absent
when using e-mail, so strive to be concise, clear, and polite in your own writing, and flexible in your
interpretation of other people's mail. This follows an old networking axiom: "be precise in what you
send, and forgiving of what you receive."
Since e-mail doesn't contain physical cues, a number of conventions peculiar to e-mail have been
developed. In particular, a "smiley" is used to indicate that the previous statement that is meant in a
light-hearted or humorous way. "Smileys", when looked at sideways, look vaguely like "stick drawings"
of human faces. There are hundreds of smileys that can be made with the basic characters of a keyboard,
each of which conveys a slightly different meaning. Here is a small audience of smileys to give you an
idea:
:-) the basic smiley
;-) the winking smiley
;^} a slightly more sinister winking smiley
:-\ a consternated smiley
❏
❏
End the text of your message with your name. Again, this makes your mail feel more personal to the
reader.
With some mail software, you can easily create a file called a "signature" (or "sig") which is
automatically added to every outgoing mail message you send. If you *do* use a sig
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●
●
❏
30
Keep your sig short, fewer than five lines is enough.
Don't include a lot of graphics made of letters and characters, lists of all possible telephone numbers,
postal, and e-mail addresses at which you can be contacted, or your favorite quotes.
At the very least, such sigs can be annoying, and at worst, they take up space in other people's computers.
And finally, before sending off your e-mail message:
●
●
●
●
Look over what you have written.
Make sure you've said everything you needed to say.
Make sure you haven't said things you didn't need to say.
Make sure you've used correct spelling and grammar. splling errers end bad grammers make it
harder for uther peeple to reed what you wrought.:^)
Etiquette and the Sending of E-mail
Many mail software packages allow you to add a person's real name to the "TO:" field. This adds a humanizing
touch to your mail messages. Most people prefer to be called by their real names, rather than some arbitrary userid!
Use short, informative, subject lines. You can usually summarize what your message is about in fewer than 40
characters; and in many cases, software for receiving e-mail only displays the first 15 or 20 characters!
Most mail software packages have a "CC:" (Carbon Copy) option. This will cause your mail to be sent to
additional people who are at least marginally interested in what you have sent to the person indicated in the "TO:"
field. For example, in the correspondence between Bill Diaz and James Allen in the Introduction to Mail section
of this User's Guide, Bill and James might "CC:" Susan Allen on many of their messages. This is a very sensible
thing to do since Susan will want to know how Bill and James' plans would affect the timing and activities of
James' visit to Idaho Creek.
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In Summary:
The following page summarizes all of these points of e-mail etiquette.
The page after the e-mail etiquette summary gives examples of these do's and don'ts in action:
❏
Example 1 illustrates the intelligent and tasteful use of these rules of etiquette and style. See how
much more pleasant and easy to read it is than Example 2, which violates every rule that has been
suggested.
❏
Example 2 may seem extreme, but as everyone who has used the Internet can attest, such
examples*do* occur! Such an e-mail message is an embarrassment for the person sending it, and an
annoyance to the person(s) receiving it.
The Basic Principles of E-mail Etiquette
Be brief.
Keep line lengths to less than 65 columns.
Use blank spaces between paragraphs to help the reader's eye.
Use mixed upper and lower case.
Use capitals AND special characters for *emphasis*!
Keep your paragraphs short. Fewer than 15 lines is best.
Avoid control characters or special keys.
Begin text with the real name of the person you're writing.
If useful, include parts of mail to which you are replying.
End the text of your message with your real name.
If you use a "sig", keep it short and simple.
Review what you've written BEFORE you send it.
Include the person's real name in the "TO:" line of the header.
Use the "CC:" option if available and if appropriate.
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Example 1: E-Mail Following Suggested Etiquette Guidelines
Date: Wed. 8 June 91 10:45 MST
From: Bill Diaz <[email protected]>
To:
Jim Allen <[email protected]>
CC:
Susan Allen <[email protected]>
Subject:
Prospecting in Ponderosa Canyon
Jim,
I'm *delighted* to hear you're visiting this summer! In your last letter to
Susan, you wrote:
> When I'm there, do you think that geology teacher Bill Diaz
> could take me prospecting again in the mountains?
Well, absolutely! I'd be glad to have you come along! I've planned a trip
from July 24-27, if that fits with your plans. Here's some things to get
ahold of before you visit:
a geological hammer
a good field guide for rocks and minerals
a *light* sleeping bag (remember how HOT
you were in that down bag last summer? :-)
a sturdy pair of hiking boots
a pair of plastic sunglasses
If you need advice on what to get, feel free to contact me!
Take care,
Bill
49 Pear Tree Lane
Idaho Creek
Idaho
Example 2: E-Mail Violating Suggested Etiquette Guidelines
Date:
Wed. 8 June 91 10:45 MST
From:
[email protected]
To:
[email protected]
I'm delEted to hear that you're visiting us in Idaho Creek again th
r! I'd be happy to have you come pospecting. I've already planned
a m July 24-27. Here's some things you should prbably bring along:
^Z logical hammer, a g
od field guide f
rocks and minerals, a
light sleep if
king boots, and
sunglasses with plastic
boots would be
Free to MAil ba
ser-id. Here's my sig!/^ ^
/ \
/\
/\ \ | / /'tis a gift to be sim
^ _
/----\ / \
/ \ \ | / /'tis a gift to be free
/ \
/ /\/\ \/----\
/----\ \ / /+------------------/
\
/"home is\
/
\ O /
|__
o
|
|
/
\ / where the\
\
/
| \ |
|
|
/
\heart is"
\
|__/ _|_ _|_ _|_
tel: (208) 999-1234 (home) 999-4321 (woodshed) 999-3456 (car fax)
user-ids: [email protected] (INTERNET) dt_diaz@idacrkh
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For More Information About E-Mail Etiquette
Most of the principles discussed in this chapter are derived from the following sources:
Published Articles
Quarterman, J. S. 1989. "Etiquette and Ethics", ConneXions--The Interoperability Report 3(4):12-16. Advanced
Computing Environments, Mountain View, CA.
Online Information
The following articles are "periodic postings" which appear in the USENET newsgroup
"news.announce.newusers". Although they are aimed specifically at USENET users, many of the principles they
espouse are relevant to all electronic mail communication. For more information on how to use USENET, see
Chapter x of NUSIRG, "Using USENET."
Offutt, A.J., and G. Spafford 1991. "Hints on Writing Style for USENET."
Templeton, B., and G. Spafford. 1991. "Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette." (A tongue-incheek, very funny, but very informative essay on what not to do in electronic mail, especially in USENET
postings).
Von Rospach, C. and G. Spafford. 1991. "A Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community."
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ELECTRONIC MAIL GATEWAYS: SENDING MAIL BEYOND THE INTERNET
What Are Electronic Mail Gateways?
Mail gateways are computers which allow mail and other messages to be transmitted between networks which use
different methods of addressing and packaging information.
Why Are Gateways Necessary?
Many computer networks are not part of the Internet, and do not use the Internet Protocols (IP). Recall that if you
want to send an e-mail message anywhere in the Internet you would use the standard IP address format:
[email protected]
But many networks use very different formats for their addresses. As an extreme, here's an example of an address
in SprintMail, which is not an Internet network:
[user/organization]system/country
Internet mailers cannot read this address, because it contains information and symbols which are not part of an
Internet address. (Much like your postman might have trouble delivering a letter with an Internet address!)
Furthermore, the actual way in which mail messages are packaged in other networks may be considerably
different.
Mail gateways are able to resolve differences in both addressing and packaging when transmitting information
between networks.
How Do You Use Electronic Mail Gateways?
You need to know four things to send mail to users and computers on other networks:
❏
The addressing convention of the network to which you are sending mail;
❏
How to "package" the address information for the other network in a way that it will not be
inadvertently modified on its way to the intended destination;
❏
The address of the appropriate gateway computer, and, of course,
❏
The address information of the person or computer on the other network.
All of the information you need to answer questions 1-3 for many of the more commonly used non-Internet
networks is provided in Table 1.
The basic strategy used by mail gateways from the Internet to other networks is to put the other network's
addressing information in the "user-id" field of the Internet DNS address. It is also necessary to provide the
Internet address of the appropriate e-mail gateway.
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For example, suppose you want to send an e-mail message to a user who has an account on a BITNET host. The
typical user-id and e-mail address within the BITNET network looks like this:
bituser@bithost
To send an e-mail message to our friend "bituser" from a computer in the Internet, we need to include their userid, their particular BITNET host's name, and the Internet address of an Internet-BITNET gateway (gateways
between the Internet and BITNET are often referred to as "Interbit" gateways)
Here's a general example of how this would be done:
1. Their BITNET address
bituser@bithost
2. The address required for forwarding by an Interbit gateway:
bituser%[email protected]
where "An.Interbit.Gateway.Address" is one of the several computers which are connected to both the Internet and
to BITNET, and whose administrators have agreed to provide Interbit gateway services..
How to Use the Mail Gateways Table
As the previous example demonstrates, you need to know the Internet addresses of gateways which are
appropriate for sending e-mail to users on non-Internet networks. The "Table of Mail Gateways from Internet to
Other Networks" (below) provides this information for some of the many networks to which Internet users
frequently send e-mail.
In order to learn how to use this table, work through this example.
Suppose you wanted to send an e-mail message to a friend who has an account on the FidoNet network. They've
told you that their FidoNet addressing information is:
Kelley Meithisson at 3:56/67
Look in the first column to find Fidonet. Read across to the line labelled "1)." This shows a typical FidoNet
userid and address, which corresponds to your friend Kelley's address information above. Now look at the next
line, labelled "2.". This shows how Kelley's FidoNet address should be translated by an Internet user so that an email message will be successfully sent to a FidoNet user. According to line 2, Kelley's FidoNet address should be
translated to:
[email protected]
This address is now acceptable to mailers which conform to the Internet standards, and once it arrives at the
Internet--Fidonet gateway, it will be translated to a FidoNet address format and delivered within the FidoNet
network to Kelley.
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Table Of Mail Gateways From Internet to Other Networks
Network
1) addressing syntax within the other network
2) addressing syntax for mail sent from Internet
Applelink
1) user-id
2) [email protected]
BITNET
1) user-id@site
2) [email protected]
OR user-id%[email protected]
Notes:
At many Internet sites, you can address mail to BITNET users with the simple
"[email protected]". If this doesn't work, try the following syntax to use one of
the Internet--BITNET gateways:
user-id%[email protected]
where "An.Interbit.Gateway.Address" is anyone of the following:
CORNELLC.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
MITVMA.MIT.EDU
CompuServe
EASYnet/
DECnet
Cornell University
City Univ. of New York
M.I.T.
1) 7xxxx,yyy
2) [email protected]
1) user-id@host
2) [email protected]
ESnet
1) user-id@host
2) [email protected]
FidoNet
1) Firstname Lastname at 1:2/3
2) [email protected]
JANET
1) [email protected]
2) user-id%[email protected]
MCI
1) FirstName LastName (123-4567), where 123-4567 is an MCI phone id #
2) [email protected]
PSInet
1) user-id@host
2) user-id%[email protected]
Sinet
1) node::user-id
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2) [email protected]
or
1) node1::node::user-id
2) user-id%[email protected]
SPAN
1) user-id@host
2) [email protected]
THEnet
1) user-id::host
2) [email protected]@relay.the.net
UUNET
1) user-id@site
2) user-id%[email protected]
VNET
1) user-id@host
2) [email protected]
For More Information on Electronic Mail Gateways
A good online source of information about gateways from the Internet to other networks is:
"The Inter-Network Mail Guide," by John Chew, which is available from the following FTP archive:
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
ra.msstate.edu
ftp/pub/docs
internetwork-mail-guide
(For information on how to use FTP, see chapter 4 of NUSIRG.)
Chew's document is also posted periodically to the following USENET discussion groups:
comp.mail.misc
new.newusers.questions
(Please see Chapter 7 of NUSIRG for more information on using USENET.) and is available from the following
LISTSERV list:
mail:
subject:
message:
listserv%[email protected]
(none necessary)
get network guide
For information on how to use LISTSERV, see Chapter 8 of NUSIRG.
Printed Books On Gateways
The following three reference books are invaluable resources for understanding the intricacies of electronic mail
gateways, specifically, and intercommunication between networks generally:
Chapter 3: Electronic Mail
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
38
Frey, D., and R. Adams. 1989. "!%@:: A Guide to Electronic Mail Networks and Addressing. " O'Reilly and
Associates, 981 Chestnut Street, Netwon, MA.
LaQuey, T.L. 1989. "User's Directory of Computer Networks." Digital Press, Bedford, MA.
Quarterman, J. S. 1990. " The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide". Digital Press,
Bedford, MA.
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Chapter 4: Using FTP
WHAT IS FTP?
FTP means "File Transfer Protocol." The purpose of FTP is to allow quick and easy transfer of files between
computers connected to the Internet.
There are two kinds of FTP access: "anonymous FTP," and what we'll refer to as "full service FTP." We'll start by
explaining how to use anonymous FTP.
ANONYMOUS FTP AND FTP ARCHIVES
"Anonymous FTP" allows anyone on the Internet to access computers which contain "file archives." File archives
on hundreds of anonymous FTP hosts throughout the world contain:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
text files (such as this document),
computer software for personal computers and mainframes,
computer graphics,
archives of scientific, sociological, historical or other sorts of data,
archives of on-line discussion groups, and
and any other kind of information that can be stored in a computer.
"Anonymous FTP hosts" are accessible to all Internet users who have FTP installed on their computers.
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HOW INFORMATION IS ARRANGED IN FTP HOSTS
If you're not familiar with the concept of directories, please read this section before continuing.
The information in most FTP hosts is arranged in a hierarchical file system. a branching system usually
diagrammed as an upside-down tree.
The "root" of this tree is the "root FTP directory," which is where you start when you enter an FTP host. You can
think of the subdirectories as branches, and files as the tips of branches.
Here's a diagram of the part of the directory structure of the FTP host, ftphost.nwnet.net, which leads to the
directories and files we'll be dealing with in this chapter.
ftproot
/
\
/
\
/
\
/
pub (& many files
/
directories
nic
not shown)
/ \
/
(many files &
/
directories
nwnet
not shown)
/ \
/
(many files &
/
directories
learnftp
not shown)
/|\
/ | \
/ | \
/
|
\
/
|
\
file1 file2
more
directories
Keep this image of an upside down tree in mind whenever you use FTP hosts, and navigating through FTP
directories should be much easier for you.
Each directory has a name which describes what it contains. In this example, "nic" is for "network information
center," "nwnet" is for "NorthWestNet" and so forth.
Another way of looking at this system is to think of directories as the electronic equivalent of manila folders,
which can hold individual documents (files), or even other folders, and so on.
For example, you might have a folder in your desk called "Letters." Inside this folder, you might have other
folders labelled "Amie," "Doug," and "Kristine," holding letters to and from these friends. Inside the Kristine
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NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
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folder, you might also have another folder named "Mexico, 1990," which would hold those letters Kristine wrote
to you during her trip to Mexico.
USING ANONYMOUS FTP
Getting started:
On most mainframes, workstations, and many personal computers, you should be able to start an FTP session
simply by typing "ftp."
However, if you are using a computer which uses "pull down menus," such as the Apple Macintosh, DOS
machines running Windows, and some workstations, you might have to start FTP by clicking an icon. Look for a
file called NCSA Telnet, Mac TCP/IP, or any application file which contains the letters TELNET, TCP, IP, or
FTP. Once you've launched FTP from a menu driven application, you should be able to follow the examples as
they are written, but you might also have the option of automating much of your session with special features
from the menu.
The following example will demonstrate and explain the steps you'll need for most anonymous FTP sessions.
Everything you should type is printed in lower case letters.
What you want to do:
What you type:
1) Start the FTP program:
ftp
2) Select an FTP host:
open ftphost.nwnet.net
3) Identify yourself
type your FTP login name
type your FTP password
anonymous (usually)
4) Move to the /learnftp directory
cd nic/nwnet/learnftp
5) List the contents of the learnftp directory
dir (or ls)
6) Copy the file "readme.ftp" to your computer
get readme.ftp
7) Explore the FTP host
cd directory-name (go DOWN
tree to a directory)
cdup (to go UP the tree one level)
pwd (Print Working
Directory's name)
dir (directory's contents)
8) Quit an FTP session
quit (use anytime)
Feel free to explore! But be careful. You may be surprised to find just how much material you can copy in a very
short time.
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Commonly Used FTP Commands
Command
Meaning or Action
ftp
name
password
cd (& cdup)
dir (or ls)
ascii
start an FTP session
identify yourself to an FTP host
same
change directories down (and up)
list the contents of a directory
prepare FTP for a text-only
transfer
prepare FTP for a binary file
transfer
copy a file from FTP host to your
computer
end your FTP session
binary
get
quit
A Short List of Particularly Good FTP Hosts
There are thousands of Anonymous FTP sites around the world. The "For More Information" section tells you
how to obtain a large list of such sites. In the meantime, here are examples of some generally useful and well
organized FTP hosts in the United States so you can start exploring right away. Have fun!
ames.arc.nasa.gov
archive.cis.ohio-state.edu
belch.berkeley.edu
cs.arizona.edu
export.lcs.mit.edu
ftp.cs.toronto.edu
ftp.cs.widener.edu
ftp.uu.net
gatekeeper.dec.com
genbank.bio.net
grape.ecs.clarkson.edu
ics.uci.edu
pit-manager.mit.edu
scam.berkeley.edu
ucsd.edu
uu.psi.com
uxc.cso.uiuc.edu
wuarchive.wustl.edu
An Expanded Sample Anonymous FTP Session
Here's a more expanded version of this one page summary, which describes an FTP session, step by step. Note
that after typing a command, you should press the RETURN or the ENTER key (whichever works) to send what
you've typed to the FTP host. If you're feeling adventurous, try one of the FTP hosts above and do some
exploring!
Step 1. Starting FTP (the 'ftp' command)
Type ftp (or launch FTP from a pull down menu):
ftp
You should now see the FTP prompt, which will be with you throughout your FTP session:
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NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
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FTP>
Step 2. Opening a Connection to an FTP Host (the 'open' command)
To establish a connection to an FTP host, just type "open" followed by the full Internet address of the FTP host.
In this example, we'll use the NorthWestNet FTP host to get you started:
FTP> open ftphost.nwnet.net
Step 3. Identifying Yourself to the FTP Host (name & password)
Supply a user-id and password.
The user-id is usually "anonymous". Almost all FTP sites will accept the word "guest", but sometimes you will
see a message, like this one, that asks for "your ident" or "your real ident". In such cases, the FTP administrator
would like you to type in "[email protected]" as the password:
FTP> NAME (FTPHOST.NWNET.NET:): anonymous
FTP> Guest login ok, send ident as password: your-user-id
Step 4. Changing Directories (the 'cd' command)
You are now ready to locate the files you want to copy. We've set up a special directory in the NorthWestNet
FTP host to teach you how to use FTP. To get to this directory, type:
FTP> cd nic/nwnet/learnftp
'nic' means 'Network Information Center'; the meanings of the rest of the directory names should be apparent...
Step 5. Listing the Contents of a Directory (dir & ls)
Now ask ftphost.nwnet.net for a listing of the contents of the "learnftp" directory. Most FTP software supports
two commands to display listings of a directory's contents--you can use:
ls display a simple listing of files, or
dir display a list of files including directory information
Here's a comparison of the listing of the learning directory provided by '"ls" and "dir'" (Don't forget that the FTP
host will print out other messages as well. We just want you to concentrate on the listings of the files and
directories as shown below.)
FTP> ls
readme.ftp
compressed-files
explore.ftp
ftphost.list.txt
ftphost.list.Z
FTP> dir
-rw-r--r--
1 20080
staff
4532
Oct 22 2:01
README.ftp
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NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
drwxr-xr-x
-rw-r--r--rw-r--r--rw-r--r--
1
1
1
1
bin
20080
20080
20080
system
staff
staff
staff
512
5365
49462
168372
44
Oct
Oct
Oct
Oct
22
23
23
22
9:17
4:02
1:03
9:14
compressed-files
explore.ftp
ftphost.list.txt
ftphost.list.Z
Using "ls" gave a quick and simple list of the contents of the directory. Using "dir" provided considerably more
information. Most importantly for our purposes right now, the command 'dir' allows us to determine:
a. Whether the entry is a file or a directory (in column 1, '-' means file, 'd' means directory), you cannot use FTP
to get directories, only files.
b. The size of the file in bytes (the column before the months). You should make sure the files you are about to
copy will fit in your local computer.
c. The date and time of creation of the file or directory. This information is useful if you know that a certain file
is in several FTP hosts, and you want to try to get the most recent copy.
d. The last part(s) of a file's name often gives some indication about what format the file is stored in. In this
directory, there are different versions of the file 'ftphost.list' which contain the same information, stored in
different formats. The file 'ftphost.list.txt' is a text only file, the file 'ftphost.list.Z' is a compressed file.
Step 6. Copying a File (get)
The file "README.ftp" is a standard, text only file, so set your FTP session to ASCII mode, and then use the get
command to copy the file to your local computer. (Note that we type the filename EXACTLY as it appears:
upper case for README, lower case for ftp.)
FTP> ascii
FTP> get README.ftp readthis.ftp
The file "readme.ftp" has now been copied to your computer, and has been put into your computer as a file called
"readthis.ftp" in the directory from which you started FTP.
When copying a file from an FTP archive, you have the option of providing a new name for your local copy of the
file. Although files stored in FTP archives usually have informative and easy to use names, you will inevitably
encounter some extremes. Some FTP archive maintainers prefer cryptic filenames (e.g., a file could be called "t"
in one FTP archive, while other FTP archive maintainers go to an expository extreme and store the same file as
"Before-You-Copy-This-GECKO-GRAF.doc-file-be-sure-you-fed-your-cat".)
Strive to create concise and meaningful names for files you've FTP'd. If your computer's operating system uses a
hierarchical file system (with directories), thoughtful organization and naming of directories can help
tremendously by providing positional information (e.g., you could store the above file in the directory path
"cat/fed" as file "GeckoGraf.doc").
Of course, you must be aware of the file naming conventions used by your computer's operating system. For
example, IBM PC's running DOS require filenames to fit the following format:
A:filename.ext
where "A" indicates a disk drive, "filename" is a name no longer than eight characters in length, and "ext" is a
filename extension no more than three characters long. For example, the FTP command:
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NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
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get ftphost.list.txt A:ftplist.doc
would result in a file on your "A disk drive" with an orthodox DOS name. Other operating systems, such as UNIX
and Macintosh OS are less restrictive about filename lengths, but may still prohibit the use of certain characters in
filenames.
Step 7. Exploring an FTPhost (cd, cdup, dir, pwd)
If you followed the instructions up to this point, you should currently be in the 'learnftp' directory, within the
'nwnet' directory, within the 'nic' directory. A much easier way of representing this is:
/nic/nwnet/learnftp
You can type "cdup" or "cd .." to go back one directory, and then "pwd" to print your current directory (Print
Working Directory):
FTP> cdup
FTP> pwd
current directory is /nic/nwnet
You can then type dir to see what's in the "nwnet" directory. If you want to go into a directory within the "nwnet"
directory, you'd type
FTP> cd directory-name
or if you wanted to go back another step in the directory, you could type
FTP> cdup
FTP> pwd
current directory is /nic
Of course, if you find something you want to copy, you would use the get command, just as described previously
in Step 6.
With these four commands--cd, cdup, dir, and pwd--you can explore the contents of this and any other FTP host in
the world.
Step 8. Ending an FTP Session
Just type:
FTP> quit
and you should be back in a normal session on your computer.
Depending upon the particular version of FTP you are running, you may be able to take shortcuts here and there.
There are also many messages which the FTP host will send to your screen, but for the sake of simplicity, we have
only included the most important in this example.
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FULL SERVICE FTP
If you have computer accounts on two or more computers on the Internet, "full service" FTP makes it possible for
you to move files from one of your accounts to the other(s).
With full service FTP, you can put files into an account, and remove files or directories from that account.
Here's an example full service FTP session:
Step 1. START FTP
Just type: ftp
Step 2. NAME A COMPUTER ON WHICH YOU HAVE AN ACCOUNT
Type "open" followed by the Internet address of a computer on which you have an account:
FTP> open YOUR.HOSTS.INTERNET.ADDRESS
Step 3. SUPPLY YOUR USERID AND PASSWORD
Name (your.host.internet.address): your-user-id
Password required for YOUR-USER-ID.
PASSWORD: your-password
230 User YOUR-USER-ID logged in.
FTP> delete dead.letter
250 DELE command successful.
FTP> quit
221 Goodbye.
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Getting Help In FTP
Whenever you are using FTP, you can type help to get a list of all the commands which are available to you.
Here's an example of the help listing given by a typical UNIX FTP host:
FTP> help
!
$
account
append
ascii
bell
binary
bye
case
cd
cdup
close
cr
delete
debug
dir
disconnect
form
get
glob
hash
help
image
lcd
ls
macdef
mdelete
mdir
mget
mkdir
mls
mode
mput
nmap
ntrans
open
prompt
proxy
sendport
put
pwd
quit
quote
recv
remotehelp
rename
reset
rmdir
runique
send
status
struct
sunique
tenex
trace
type
user
verbose
?
Now type help for any command, and you'll get a terse definition of what the command does:
FTP>
delete
help delete
delete a file
Because there are several versions of FTP for different operating systems, it's always a good idea to type "help"
and see what commands are available if you are having problems. You might find that some familiar commands
are not present on the machine you are using. Using FTP on IBM CMS and TOPS-20 mainframes is different
from the examples given above, so be forewarned!
Finding Out if FTP is on your Computer
If simply typing FTP doesn't give you the FTP prompt you can find out if FTP is available by asking your
instructor or your user services staff.
As mentioned above, you may have to invoke a software package of which FTP is a part. For example, some
packages on computers such as the Apple Macintosh, IBM PCs, and Amigas, may have FTP bundled with other
applications.
You can also try your local online help system. Here are some of the more common forms of help syntax you
might use.
help ftp or help tcpip
man ftp or man ftpd
find telnet or find tcp
VMS, CMS, some Unix machines
most Unix machines
Macintosh (using the Find
File application from the
"apple" menu)
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NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
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For More Information On FTP
"List of Anonymous FTP Sites," Jon Granrose.
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
pilot.njin.net
pub/ftp-list
README
help
index
...and many others
Two USENET newsgroups deal specifically with FTP archives. Read chapter 8 of NUSIRG for more information
on using USENET.
comp.archives:
comp.archives.admin:
Announcements about new and
Updated FTP files
Frequent discussion about FTP
archives, access, administration, etc..
For example, the "Short List of Particularly Good FTP Hosts" provided in this chapter was derived from a posting
by Ed Vielmetti to the group "comp.archive.admin."
Technical References On FTP
Comer, D. E. 1991. "Internetworking With TCP/IP." Volume 1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture.
Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Chapter 23.
RFC959: The File Transfer Protocol (available via anonymous FTP from nis.nsf.net in the "rfc" directory).
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NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
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THE ABC'S OF HANDLING SPECIAL FILES
Archives, Binary Files, and Compressed Files
Many files on FTP archives and other computers are in a text only format which can be copied directly to your
computer and displayed with a text editor without any special processing. However, you will certainly encounter
computer files which are stored in special forms, and need to be transferred and/or processed in particular ways if
you want to be able to use them.
There are three main kinds of special formats to look out for:
❏
❏
❏
binary files
compressed files
archived file groups
and any combination of these three.
Before going through some examples of how to process archived, compressed, and binary files, some definitions
will be useful.
Archived File Groups
When several files are logically related in some way, they are sometimes put together and stored as one archive
file. This makes it easier for you to copy the information to your computer. You need only to use the FTP "get"
command once to transfer the whole archive file to your computer. You can then run a program on your local
computer to unpack the archive into its component files.
One commonly encountered archive format on the Internet is called "tar", which is short for "tape archive." These
tar archives are created, and unpacked, using the tar program on UNIX copyrighted computers. Files which have
been archived with tar should contain the word "tar" at or towards the end of their filename.
Similarly, there are other archive programs for UNIX and most other computer operating systems, and each one of
these will add a special suffix to the file's name.
For example, there is a file containing a complete, text only copy of NUSIRG on ftphost.nwnet.net, in the
directory path /nic/nwnet/users-guide, called nusirg.whole-guide.txt.tar.Z.
But what does the "Z" in the filename "nusirg.whole-guide.txt.tar.Z" mean?
Compressed Files
As the name suggests, compressed files are files which have been made smaller so that they take up less space on
a computer disk or other storage media. Because they are smaller, compressed files are also transferred through
the Internet more quickly than the original, uncompressed files.
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In the example above, the letter "Z" indicates that the file "NUSIRG.txt.tar.Z" has been compressed by the Unix
compress program. Again, there are many other compression programs for UNIX and other operating systems, and
each will add a particular suffix to the file's name.
Binary Files
Text on most computer screens is displayed as lower and upper case letters, numbers, and special characters, such
as !,@,#, and so forth, which are easy for you to read.
The only information computers can "read," however, is binary code, numbers made up of 1's and 0's. Most
computers use standard translation conventions, either ASCII or EBCDIC, to store text. Binary files, on the other
hand, typically refer to "non-text" files such as bitmaps or computer programs. Most compressed files are stored
in "binary" format.
The important thing to remember about binary files when you use FTP is that they must be transferred using FTP
binary mode. Otherwise the file will be translated to ASCII (or EBCDIC for IBM users) and be useless when it
gets to your computer.
You put FTP into binary mode by typing the word "binary" at the FTP prompt. When you're not sure what format
a file is in, you should try using binary. Regardless of whether it is actually in binary or ASCII, the file will
usually get to your computer just fine.
You should be aware that FTP's on some computers have additional modes which you might need to use, such as
tenex.
Quick Guide to Common Un-Archive and Un-Compression Programs
Some FTP hosts have a README file in each directory which provides brief descriptions of the file in that
directory. The README file also indicates which, if any, of the files in the directory need special handling, and
if so, what that handling should be. It's always a good idea to get such README files before you start getting a
lot of files from an FTP host. It can save you a lot of grief!
However, many FTP hosts do not have these files (and sometimes we are too impatient to take the time to get
README files), so sometimes we have to guess.
Suppose you FTP'd the following files onto a UNIX computer:
file1.txt
file2.shar
file3.tar.Z
In the paragraphs below, you can find out what needs to be done to each of these files before you can use them:
For file 1, "txt" is one of several common extensions used for text-only files, so file1 can most likely be read
directly with a standard UNIX text editor.
For file 2,"shar" is the file extension often used to denote a "shell archive." To process file2.shar, you usually can
find directions at the top of the file like "Delete everything above the 'cut here' mark, and then type "sh this file."
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Finally, file 3 has two extensions: "tar" and "Z". First we would use the "uncompress" program, which will make
a file called "file3.tar". We would then use then the "tar" program to unarchive the file into it component parts.
Name of program *you* use to
process this file on your
computer's operating system
Archive or
Compression
Program Name
Added
File
Extension
DOS
Mac
ARC
BinHex
compress
PackIt
PKZIP
SHellARchive
StuffIt
tar
uuencode
ZOO
ARC
Hqx
Z
pit
ZIP
shar
Sit
tar
uu
ZOO
arc602.exe
xbin23.zip
u16.zip
UnPackIt
pkz110eu.exe
toadshr1.arc
mactopc
tar.zip
toaduu20.zip
zoo201.exe
ArcMac
BinHex
MacCompress
PackIt
UnZip
UnShar
StuffIt
UnTar
uutool
MacBooz
Name of program *you* use to
process this file on your
computer's operating system
Archive or
Compression
Program Name
Added
File
Extension
UNIX
VM/CMS
ARC
BinHex
compress
ARC
Hqx
Z
arc521
mcvert
uncompress
arcutil
binhex
compress
pack
PackIt
PKZIP
SHellARchive
StuffIt
tar
uuencode
ZOO
z
pit
ZIP
shar
Sit
tar
uu
ZOO
unpack
unpit
unzip41
unshar
unsit
tar
uudecode
zoo201
arcutil
zoo
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For More Information
A comprehensive table of nearly 100 programs for unpacking archives and uncompressing files is maintained by
David Lemson. His document also gives detailed information on where all listed programs can be obtained. Most
of them are available via anonymous FTP. Here's the information for the location of the "master" copy, which
should be up to date.
FTP Host:
directory:
filename:
ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
doc/pcnet
compression
This file is available on other FTP hosts as well.
USENET Discussion Groups
The following USENET discussion groups deal specifically with the theory and practice of file compression.
alt.comp.compression
comp.compression
Useful information about file compression is often presented in the following operating system specific groups as
well.
comp.binaries.amiga
comp.binaries.apple2
comp.binaries.atari.st
comp.binaries.ibm.pc
comp.binaries.mac
comp.binaries.os2
If you don't know how to use USENET, refer to Chapter 7 of NUSIRG, "Using USENET."
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Chapter 5: TELNET
USING TELNET
What is TELNET For?
TELNET is an Internet application used for logging in to other Internet computers.
With TELNET, you can access:
o
•
o
o
Online databases
Electronic library catalogs
Internet information services
Computers on which you have an account
In practice, there are two kinds of TELNET.
"Guest TELNET" allows you to login to a computer through a special guest account from which you can perform
a restricted, but still useful set of tasks.
"Full privilege TELNET" allows you to login to a computer on which you have a regular account, and to do your
normal work on this computer from any other computer connected to the Internet.
TELNET is one of the "application level services" of TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol)
which computers throughout the Internet use to communicate. For more detailed information on the technical
aspects of TELNET, obtain the references in the section entitled "For More Information."
Note that when you access Internet services which are installed on IBM mainframes, you will sometimes need to
use a special version of TELNET called "tn3270" which allows full screen TELNET sessions on IBM mainframes.
From your perspective, tn3270 works just like TELNET, and you can simply substitute "tn3270" for TELNET.
This is especially important when connecting to IBM mainframes from UNIX hosts.
How Do You Use TELNET?
If TELNET is installed on your computer, you can usually type "telnet", followed by another computer's Internet
address. Sometimes you will also have to type in a userid or other login information.
For example, to login to the University of Maryland's INFO program, you'd type:
telnet info.umd.edu
In a short time, the computer in Maryland should prompt you for a login id; just type "info" after the word "login:"
login: info
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You will then be asked what kind of terminal you are using. To take full advantage of this particular TELNET
site, you should type 'vt100', or some other "full screen emulation" terminal type which allows you to use cursor
keys, etc.) Throughout this session, you will see instructions on your screen about what to do. If you get confused
in this or any other TELNET session, just type "help" or "?". Or, go to the section entitled "TELNET
Troubleshooting" for solutions to some of the more commonly encountered problems. Here's a list of a few of the
many TELNET sites on the Internet which offer valuable and interesting services. Enjoy!
A Brief List of Some Representative TELNET Sites
1. TELNET Sites Which Work With Most Kinds of Terminals
Name
Internet Address
Login Info
Services
CARL
DDN NIC
pac.carl.org
nic.ddn.mil
none needed
none needed
Knowbot
Knowbot
MELVYL
sol.bucknell.edu 185
nri.reston.va.us 185
melvyl.ucop.edu
none needed
none needed
none needed
Library Catalogs
Internet info,
find computer
addresses, etc.
Find computer
addresses
Library Catalogs
2. TELNET Sites Which Work Best With "Full Screen Emulation"
Name
Internet Address
Login Info
Services
PENpages
psupen.psu.edu
user: pnotpa
SpaceLink
128.158.13.250
UMD INFO
info.umd.edu
user: newuser
pass: newuser
login: info
Agricultural
Information
NASA & Space info.
UNC INFO
info.acs.unc.edu
login: info
Many kinds of
information
Univ. North
Carolina info.
The best way to learn about TELNET is to use it. There is a sample session to try at the end of this chapter.
The rest of this document gives more detailed, but still nontechnical, information about TELNET.
Additional Information for Personal Computer Users
If you're connecting to the Internet from a personal computer, there are two main ways to use TELNET:
o
If you are a modem user, you can login to a mainframe or a telecommuncations provider using a
terminal emulation program, and then use the mainframe or telecommunication provider's TELNET
software.
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55
If you are using a personal computer connected directly to the Internet you may be able to use a
TELNET program installed on your personal computer.
Typical TELNET Sessions
We'll illustrate the use of TELNET with two examples: 1) logging in to a VMS computer from a UNIX computer,
and 2) logging into an Internet Information Service to a public TELNET account.
In these sample sessions, lines are labeled as follows:
U> Commands entered by you
T> Responses from TELNET
P> TELNET or operating system prompts where you type a response on
the same line as the prompt; text you enter is underlined.
Text with no line labels are explanations.
Example 1. Using TELNET to Login to Another Computer on Which You Have an Account
If you have computer accounts on two or more computers, substitute the names of those computers for the
hypothetical Internet addresses supplied in this example.
This example illustrates that you can usually get online help for TELNET within each of the operating systems,
and help from the TELNET program while at the TELNET prompt.
1) In UNIX, you can type "man telnet" to get UNIX specific help on TELNET (in UNIX jargon, "man" is short for
"manual page"):
P> UNIXhost% man telnet
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You will then see a page of the TELNET manual.
TELNET(1C)
DYNIX Programmer's Manual
TELNET(1C)
NAME
TELNET - user interface to the TELNET protocol
SYNOPSIS
TELNET [ host [ port ] ]
DESCRIPTION
TELNET is used to communicate with another host using the TELNET
protocol. If TELNET is invoked without arguments, it enters command
mode,indicated by its prompt ("TELNET>"). In this mode, it accepts and
executes the commands listed below. If it is invoked with arguments,
it performs an open command (see below) with those arguments.
Once a connection has been opened, TELNET enters an input mode. The
input mode entered will be either "character at a time" or "line by line"
depending on what the remote system supports.
--More--
Now let's start a TELNET session by just typing TELNET.
P> UNIXhost% telnet
T> telnet>
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We are now running the TELNET program on the UNIX host. Let's see what help the TELNET program has to
offer (what you see might be different):
P> telnet> help
T> Commands
may be abbreviated. Commands are:
T> close
T> display
T> mode
T> open
T> quit
T> send
T> set
T> status
T> toggle
T> z
T> ?
close current connection
display operating parameters
enter line-by-line or character-at-a-time mode
connect to a site
exit TELNET
transmit special characters ('send ?' for more)
set operating parameters ('set ?' for more)
print status information
toggle operating parameters ('toggle ?' for more)
suspend TELNET
print help information
Notice that additional help can be obtained for some of the commands which have suboptions (e.g., "set ?").
Now let's open a session to another computer on which we have a regular account and password (substitute the
name with a computer on which you actually have an account.):
P> telnet> open vmshost.internet.computer.address
T> Connected to vmshost.internet.computer.address
T> Escape character is '^]'.
From this point on, your terminal will display a session which is just like what it would be if you were logged in
directly.
T> Welcome to VMSHOST. Please log in.
P> Username: your-userid
P> Password: your-password
T> Welcome to VMSHOST, running VAX/VMS V5.4-1.
T> Last interactive login on Thursday, 2-SEP-1991 16:17
T> Last non-interactive login on Thursday, 2-SEP-1991 16:21
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Now that we are in the VMS machine, let's use the VMS help system to get information about TELNET on VMS.
P>
T>
T>
T>
T>
T>
T>
T>
$ help telnet
TELNET
TELNET is a subsystem to allow users to connect their
terminal to other systems on a network. TELNET
supports communication using the TCP/IP, CHAOSnet
and PUP protocols.
Format:
TELNET [host-name]
T> Additional information available:
T> Parameters Command_Qualifiers
P> Press RETURN to continue ... <return key>
P> TELNET Subtopic? <return key>
P> Topic? <return key>
We can close our connection to VMSHOST by logging out normally, and we will be returned to the UNIX session
from which we had started:
P> $ logout
Unixhost%
We've closed the connection to VMSHOST; if we wanted to we could enter more TELNET commands or start
another session. But let's quit TELNET:
P> telnet> quit
UNIXhost%
Example 2. TELNET Session to an Internet Information Server
This example shows how TELNET can be used to access special guest accounts on Internet computers.
The process of connecting to such guest accounts is the same: you type "telnet internet.host.address". But once
you are connected, every site has different features and user interfaces, so don't expect the details of this example
to represent anything but INFO at "info.umd.edu"!
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U> telnet info.umd.edu
T> Trying...
T> Connected to dbserv.UMD.EDU.
T> Escape character is '^]'.
For this and most TELNET sessions, pressing the "Ctrl" or "Control" key followed by the "]" key will close your
TELNET connection to another machine. ("^" is the standard abbreviation for the control key in most computer
manuals.)
You will now be prompted to log in as:
T> Ultrix V4.1 (Rev. 52)
T> At the "login:" prompt below, enter:
T> INFO
T>
for access to the Information
On-line files and programs.
P> login: info
T> Last login: Sat Sep 21 00:25:33 from annex2.umd.edu
T> Ultrix V4.1(Rev 52)System #2: Tue Jan 15 11:01:34 EST 1991
T> UWS V4.1 (Rev. 197)
You will now be prompted for your computer's "terminal type." When you use some TELNET services, you can
ask for a display of what kinds of terminal emulation are supported at that site.
T> Please enter your terminal type
P> (? for a list, RETURN for 'vt100'): ?
Terminal type does not mean "is you computer a Macintosh or an IBM mainframe?" but rather, "what kind of
terminal can your computer 'emulate'." Any particular computer can, depending upon installed software, emulate
one or more terminal types.
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T> A list of supported terminals follows. Enter the type of your terminal
(in lower case):
T> type
T> aaa
T> dt80
T> h19
T> h29
T> kk
T>
T>
T>
T>
T>
T>
T>
T>
T>
m4
sun
vt100
vt102
vt200
vt52
xterm
z19
z29
description
Ann Arbor Ambassador (24 lines)
Datamedia DT80
Heathkit H-19 (also MD-PC/IP TELNET program for PCs)
Heathkit H-29
Kermit VT-102 full-screen (for campus IBM mainframes e.g.,
DO IBM)
Microterm (MIME) 340/314 in ACT-IV Mode
Sun Microsystems Workstation Console
DEC VT-100 (also NCSA TELNET program for PCs & Macs)
DEC VT-102
DEC VT-200
DEC VT-52
X-windows vt100 terminal emulator (24 lines)
Zenith Z-19 (like Heathkit H-19)
Zenith Z-29 (like Heathkit H-29)
If you're not sure what kind of emulation you have available, try "vt100", which is a kind of full screen emulation
available on many computers.
T> Please enter your terminal type
P> (? for a list, RETURN for 'vt100'): vt100
Your terminal will now display the following introductory information about the Info system. Whenever online
help is displayed, take the time to read it!
View
Return
Select
X-fer
Go-To
Protocol
Quit
INFO2.0
Welcome to INFO!
MENU OPERATION:
The menus will be available after you press a key to clear this screen.
To select a menu item, press the arrow keys to highlight the item (such as VIEW or
SELECT), and then press Return or Enter. You can also select a menu item by typing the first
letter of that item. For example, pressing V selects the VIEW option.
Help is available everywhere. If you get stuck you can press the ? key, and information about
the highlighted menu item will appear on the screen.
Press any key to continue...
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When you press any key, you will see the main menu.
VIEW
Return
Select
X-fer
Go-To
Protocol
Quit
INFO
13 FILES IN /
Name
Description
protocol = None
1
Computers
Directory
11 Sep, 1991
15:17
2
EconData
Directory
05 Jun, 1991
00:00
3
Literature
Directory
18 Sep, 1991
10:41
4
Macintosh
Directory
20 Sep, 1991
19:00
5
NewsLetters
Directory
19 Aug, 1991
12:30
6
PC
Directory
20 Sep, 1991
23:32
7
USGovt
Directory
06 Aug, 1991
16:13
8
UofMaryland
Directory
16 Sep, 1991
18:16
9
Weather
Directory
30 Jul, 1991
10:12
10 World
Directory
18 Sep,1991
15:13
11 info.cat
File
20 Sep,1991
19:00
50866 bytes
12 update.cat
File
20 Sep,1991
07:00
13110 bytes
13 welcome
File
12 Sep, 1991
11:32
1782 bytes
Use the up/down arrow keys to select a directory or file, press the first letter of a menu item
to act on the selection. Press ? for help.
Let's select USGovt. Since we're using vt100 emulation, we can press the down arrow on our keyboard until we
get to item 7, and then press return to get to the USGovt menu.
10 FILES IN /USGovt
Name
Description
protocol = None
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
.. (Previous)
Directory
12 Sep, 1991
11:32
Bills
Directory
05 Jun, 1991
00:00
Constitution
Directory
01 Aug, 1991
10:56
Economics
Directory
02 Aug, 1991
08:46
GAO
Directory
06 Aug, 1991
17:23
SupremeCt
Directory
23 Jul, 1991
16:34
Taxes
Directory
05 Jun, 1991
00:00
educationFile
04 Jun, 1991
12:00
1927 bytes
goals.txt
9
represenFile
25 Jul, 1991
11:26
16456 bytes
tatives.txt
10 senators.txt
File
25 Jul, 1991
11:26
4258 bytes
Use the up/down arrow keys to select a directory or file, press the first letter of a menu item to
act on the selection. Press ? for help.
Again, move the cursor down to a line you want to select. Let's go to line 6 to the supreme court directory.
VIEW
Return
Select
X-fer
Go-To
Protocol
Quit
INFO
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6 FILES IN /USGovt/SupremeCt
Name
Description
protocol = None
1
.. (Previous)
Directory
06 Aug, 1991
16:13
2
1989term
Directory
23 Jul, 1991
16:33
3
1990term
Directory
23 Jul, 1991
16:34
4
00index.cat
File
23 Jul, 1991
16:33
12656 bytes
5
00readme.txt
File
23 Jul, 1991
16:33
2692 bytes
6
justices.txt
File
23 Jul, 1991
16:34
19299 bytes
Use the up/down arrow keys to select a directory or file, press the first letter of a menu item to
act on the selection. Press ? for help.
Finally, we will view the document "justices.txt" by moving the cursor to line 6 and pressing the Return key.
TOP
Bottom
Up
Down
/USGovt/SupremeCt/justices.txt
Left
Right
Number
Search
Quit
lines 1 - 17 of 314
JUDICIARY
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
One First Street NE, 20543. Phone, (202) 479-3000
WILLIAM HUBBS REHNQUIST, Chief Justice of the United States, born in Milwaukee, WI,
October 1, 1924; son of William Benjamin and Margery Peck Rehnquist; married to Natalie
Cornell of San Diego, CA; children: James, Janet, and Nancy, member of Emmanuel
Lutheran Church, Bethesda, MD, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in this country and
overseas from 1943-46, discharged with the rank of sergeant, Stanford University, B.A.,
M.A., 1948; Harvard University, M.A., 1950; Stanford University, LL.B., 1952 ranking first
in class; Order of the Coif; member of the Board of Editors of the Stanford Law Review; law
clerk for Justice Robert H. Jackson, Supreme Court of the United
(more text)
Use the up/down arrow keys to select a directory or file, press the first letter of a menu item to
act on the selection. Press ? for help.
To exit "info.umd.edu" you can press "Ctrl ]". You will see
T> telnet>
on your screen. You can either enter "open another.internet.computer.address", or "close", to terminate your
TELNET session.
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63
TELNET TROUBLE-SHOOTING
Step 1. If just typing "telnet" doesn't give you the "TELNET>" prompt:
o
Try typing "help telnet", "man telnet", "info telnet" or whatever command is appropriate to your
operating system. You might also try "tcpip" instead of "telnet",
o
or contact your local user services personnel.
Step 2. If you type "telnet an.internet.computer.address" and you don't get connected:
o
"unknown host" message: You might have misspelled the computer's domain name, or the domain
name of the computer might have changed.
o
"foreign host did not responding within OPEN timeout" message: There's probably too much traffic
somewhere on the Internet between you and the host, or the host is disabled in some way. Try again
later.
o
There might be a limit on the number of users allowed onto the host at a given time. You will
usually get some sort of explanation from the host to this effect. Try again later.
Step 3. When logging in to a VM/CMS mainframe from a UNIX host, TELNET will only give you "line-at-atime" service. You should use a 3270 emulator for full screen service.
WHAT RESOURCES CAN BE ACCESSED WITH TELNET?
There are many very interesting and valuables services listed in several chapters of NUSIRG and in the documents
referenced in these chapters:
Chapter 6: Archie: The FTP Guru
Chapter 11: Accessing Library Catalogs Through the Internet
Chapter 12: Internet Accessible Databases and Bibliographies
Chapter 13: The Wide Area Information Server (WAIS)
Chapter 14: Internet Directory Services
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TELNET
Technical Descriptions of the TELNET protocol
Douglas E. Comer. 1991. "Internetworking with TCP/IP." Vol. 1. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Chapter 22: Applications:
Remote Login (TELNET, RLOGIN), contains a relatively accessible discussion of the technical aspects of
TELNET.
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Authoritative sources for technical information about TELNET (and most anything else about the Internet) can be
found in "RFC" (Request for Comments) documents.
Here's a partial list of relevant RFC's on TELNET:
RFC 854: "TELNET Protocol Specification"
RFC 764: "TELNET Protocol Specification"
RFC 855: "TELNET Option Specifications"
RFC 856 - RFC 861: Many other TELNET options specifications
Although RFC's are available from many other sources on the Internet, here are instructions on how to obtain
RFC's from two definitive RFC repositories:
1. Via FTP:
FTP Hosts:
directory:
files:
nis.nsf.net
rfc
rfcxxx.txt
(where xxx is the RFC number)
2. Via electronic mail messages to nic.ddn.mil's automated "mail server":
mail
subject:
[email protected]
rfc xxx
Information On TCP/IP Packages for PCs Which Include TELNET
"Network Protocol Implementations and Vendors Guide" is a 300+ page description of TCP/IP hardware and
software available at no charge via FTP and electronic mail, or for purchase by land mail:
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
nic.ddn.mil
netinfo
vendors-guide.doc
e-mail:
subject:
mail [email protected]
(none needed)
mail:
DDN Network Information Center, SRI International
333 Ravenswood Avenue, Room EJ291
Menlo Park, CA 94025
($45 if ordered by postal mail.)
Chapter 5: TELNET
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Chapter 6: "Archie": The FTP Archive Guru
WHAT IS ARCHIE?
Archie is a computer program which maintains a constantly updated catalog of the contents of a large proportion
of the world's anonymous FTP archives. Archie is rapidly becoming one of the more useful computer resources
on the Internet. It's well worth your time to learn how to use it.
WHAT IS ARCHIE USED FOR?
There are thousands of computers on the Internet which offer anonymous FTP services. Once you know how to
use FTP, you are faced with some challenging tasks. How do you find out which FTP site has the file you're
looking for? For that matter, how can you find out which FTP site has the most up-to-date version of whatever
file you're looking for?
To keep track of the contents of these services before Archie, you either had to be an FTP archive guru who
stayed awake all night prowling through the Internet, or else be lucky enough to know one.
Archie is an FTP guru for everyone on the Internet. Archie is ready and able to answer your questions.
HOW DOES ARCHIE DO IT?!
There are two major parts of the Archie program:
o
o
The first part of the Archie program is responsible for monitoring the contents of FTP archive sites.
Each month, the Archie program:
o
does an anonymous FTP to all sites contained in its master list of sites,
o
requests a directory listing of their contents, and
o
updates master catalogs of the holdings of all FTP sites.
The second part of the Archie program (the part you'll use) allows you to search through the master
list of FTP files, just like you might use a library catalog to find a book on a particular topic.
Archie's output includes the Internet domain name of the FTP host, the directory in which a file is located, the size
of the file in bytes, and the date on which the file was placed in that FTP host. Once you've gotten this list of
possible sources from Archie, you FTP to a site which has what you need, go to the subdirectory in which Archie
says the file is located, and copy the file to your own computer.
WHAT KINDS OF QUESTIONS CAN ARCHIE ANSWER?
Archie can currently answer two kinds of questions:
Chapter 6: "Archie": The FTP Guru
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66
o
Is there a file containing a particular set of characters in its filename on an FTP host somewhere? In
the rest of this chapter, this will be referred to as a FILENAME SEARCH.
o
Is there a file dealing with a certain subject which has been cataloged by subject?
You can search the "PD (or Public Domain) Software Description Database," which contains descriptive
information about the actual contents of a small subset of the files known to Archie. This will be called a FILE
CONTENTS SEARCH.
It's incredibly useful that Archie is set up to perform file contents searches. You'd be amazed at the obscurity of
the filenames which some people give their programs or files.
Just as a hypothetical example, you might think that a "Computer Aided Design" program would have the letters
"CAD" somewhere it it's name; but more often than you'd like, a CAD program might have a name like
"TLZWYQXP.DTU". In such a case, you just have to hope that the author(s) of this program had the foresight to
send a message to the Archie folks saying that "TLZWWQXP" was a CAD program.
To get you started, try one of the following sample sessions with Archie in which you'll search for files containing
information about NorthWestNet, using both FILENAME and FILE CONTENTS searches.
Once you've gone through one of these examples, you'll have the skills you need to go ahead and use Archie for
whatever kind of search you might want to make.
HOW DO YOU USE ARCHIE?
Archie Syntax
The basic search command of Archie is "prog". Entering the command string
prog textstring
will find all files that contain the word "textstring" in their filenames.
A full explanation of Archie syntax can be gotten with the "help" command in either of the two access methods
described below.
Archie By E-Mail
You can use Archie by e-mail. First time users should request a help file with the following message:
mail:
subject:
[email protected]
help
If you are accessing Archie by mail, you can put Archie search requests, one per line, in the body of your message
(Archie will also read requests placed in the subject line). For example, entering the following command string
mail: [email protected]
subject: (none needed)
prog gateways
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prog nwnet
will search for files containing the words "gateways" or "nwnet" in their filenames. Note that a subject is not
needed.
Archie By TELNET
Here are the steps for accessing Archie over the Internet:
Step 1. Use TELNET to access a remote Archie server. If you don't have access to TELNET or if you're not sure
how to use TELNET, be sure to read Chapter 5 of NUSIRG, or ask your instructor or you local user services staff
for help. However, if you do wish to use TELNET to access Archie, here are the domain name addresses of the
computers which support public access to Archie.
o
If you're in North or South America, TELNET to the Archie host nearest you:
archie.ans.net
archie.mcgill.ca
archie.rutgers.edu
archie.sura.net
archie.unl.edu
o
If you're in Eurasia or Africa, TELNET to either:
archie.doc.ic.ac.uk
or nic.funet.fi
o
(New York, USA)
(Montreal, Canada)
(New Jersey, USA)
(Maryland, USA)
(Nebraska, USA)
(United Kingdom)
(Finland)
If you're in Australia, New Zealand or Oceania, TELNET to:
archie.au
(Australia)
Step 2. Use the login name "archie". No password is required. You should see a short help screen giving some
basic help explaining how to use the system. You may also see information about recent changes to Archie.
You can get additional help about Archie at any time during your session. Typing
help
will give you a list of currently valid commands. To obtain help on a particular command from the displayed list,
just type help and the command-name. For example, to get help on the "prog" command, type
help prog
Step 3. Now you're ready to do a FILENAME SEARCH for all documents in the Archie file catalog for any
document containing the text string "nwnet" in its filename, regardless of whether the filename is upper case,
lower case, or any mixture of upper and lower case. All you need to do is to type:
prog nwnet
While Archie is searching, it will display the percentage of filename databases it has searched, and the number of
occurrences of the string "nwnet" it has found.
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If a search seems to be taking a very long time, or resulting in hundreds of possibly spurious "hits," or positive
locations of the character string, you can stop Archie by pressing "control c" (press the "control" key - sometimes
labelled "ctrl" and the "c" key simultaneously).
Step 4. When Archie is done searching, it will display:
o
o
o
the files whose names contain the string "nwnet"
in which FTP hosts these files can be found and
the subdirectory path in which they are located.
Step 5. If you want to e-mail a copy of the results of this search back to your own Internet user-id, just type
mail [email protected]
This means that you can look at the results of your searches at your leisure. This is an especially good idea since
it means you can logout of Archie as soon as you're done. This will make a connection available for another
person to login to Archie. Remember, Archie, like most Internet resources, has a limited number of users it can
serve at once! The more quickly AND efficiently you use it, the more other people can use it.
Step 6. Now try a quick FILE CONTENTS SEARCH. Just type:
whatis nwnet
All lines in the "PD Software Description Database" which contain the string "nwnet" will be displayed. Again,
you can use the command
mail [email protected]
to have the results of this search sent back to your account.
Step 7. To end your Archie session, simply type
quit
Step 8. Any search results you mailed back to your userid should be sent to you as incoming mail within a few
minutes.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND BEFORE YOU USE ARCHIE
Archie currently keeps track of more than 800 FTP hosts, containing more than 1,000,000 files. If you're not
careful, you could easily generate thousands of "hits" that are not really meaningful answers to your inquiry. For
example, "prog doc" would not be a very useful search request.
Think about your search very carefully before you TELNET to Archie. Learn to take full advantage of the many
search options described in the Archie manual to restrict your search.
There are many more features to Archie than can be described in this brief introduction. So, before you use
Archie for real searches, be sure to use the "help" command, and to read the most current Archie documentation.
Anything written about Archie (or any other Internet resource) may be out-of-date a few days after it is written.
When you TELNET to Archie, and before you start your search, read the news messages that appear on your
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screen. The developers of Archie may have just made some major breakthrough in their program which will make
using it even easier to use, but hasn't even been written up in the Archie manual.
Best of all, Archie (and most other Internet resources), will change in response to your suggestions. Once you've
used Archie, the developers of Archie would appreciate your feedback and comments to make Archie even more
useful. Send comments, bug reports, contributions to the database file, reports of anonymous FTP sites that
Archie doesn't seem to maintain (or even much deserved notes of appreciation) to:
[email protected]
The Archie program was written and is maintained by:
Alan Emtage ([email protected])
Bill Heelan ([email protected])
Ideas and inspiration were (and still are!) provided by
Peter Deutsch ([email protected])
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ARCHIE
The best source of up-to-date information about Archie are the login messages you see when you login to Archie.
For updates, and new features, and files in the FTP host maintained by Archie's developers, access the following
resources
FTP host:
directory:
filename:
quiche.cs.mcgill.ca
archie/doc
whatis.archie
(brief overview
archie.man.txt (ASCII archie manual
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SECTION 3: COMMUNICATING WITH PEOPLE
Chapter 7: Using USENET .................................................................................................... 71
What is USENET? ................................................................................................... 71
USENET Also Contains Local Groups ..................................................................... 73
A Quick Overview of Using USENET ..................................................................... 74
For More Information About USENET .................................................................... 83
Addendum 1: USENET Newsreading Software Packages And Source Info .............. 84
Chapter 8: LISTSERV Discussion Lists................................................................................. 87
What Is LISTSERV?................................................................................................ 87
What Is A LISTSERV Discussion List? ................................................................... 87
What Is A LISTSERVer? ......................................................................................... 87
How Does LISTSERV Work? .................................................................................. 87
A Short Summary of How To Use LISTSERV From The Internet............................ 88
A Summary Of Basic LISTSERV Commands .......................................................... 89
What Everyone Should Know Before Using LISTSERV.......................................... 90
For More Information About LISTSERV ................................................................. 91
USENET AND LISTSERV
If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then
you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an
idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.
George Bernard Shaw
This section introduces you to two of the most widely used forums for communication between people on
the Internet: USENET discussion groups and BITNET LISTSERV Lists.
Both USENET and LISTSERV groups are organized by topics, so you can find a group whose topic
interests you and immediately "meet" people around the world who are communicating about your
interests.
These services are like the cafes, village greens, and other meeting places in a global community filled
with people sharing ideas, news, opinions, and just plain conversation. Feel free to join in!
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Chapter 7: Using USENET
WHAT IS USENET?
USENET is a service of the Internet which allows you to participate in discussions on many different topics with
people throughout the world.
More specifically, USENET is:
❏
❏
a collection of hundreds of "newsgroups" covering everything from supercomputer design to bungee
cord jumping;
a forum for discussions, questions and answers, and news.
USENET is used daily by many thousands of people on computers worldwide. USENET is also a systems which
evolves in response to its user's needs. Every month, new USENET groups are created in response to the votes of
USENET users. And most importantly, if you use it well, USENET can be highly educational - and highly
entertaining.
What Are USENET Newsgroups?
USENET discussion takes place in hundreds of USENET newsgroups, each dealing with a particular topic. The
term "USENET newsgroups" might suggest that USENET is mainly concerned with "news," but USENET
newsgroups (or "groups") are also forums for information, discussions, debates, questions, and answers.
Each USENET group is comprised of articles (or "postings") which are submitted (or "posted") by users from
throughout the world. For those of you already familiar with electronic bulletin boards, USENET groups are very
similar to bulletin board rooms, special interest groups, conference rooms, and so forth.
How Are USENET Articles Distributed Through the Internet?
The basic purpose of USENET is similar to that of LISTSERVers described in Chapter 8: to allow people with
shared interests to communicate quickly and easily. However, information is distributed very differently by the
two systems.
Every person subscribed to a LISTSERV group receives a copy of every file sent to the group. Because you have
to handle every LISTSERV file individually as it is sent to you, the number of LISTSERV groups to which you
can subscribe is limited.
In USENET, each subscribing Internet site receives as single copy of each article via a "USENET news feed."
These news feeds are handled by Internet software called Network News Transfer Protocol or NNTP. The tens of
thousands of USENET files which accumulate each week are stored on one mainframe, workstation, or personal
computer at your site. Even if there are 1,000 people want to read a given article, only one copy needs to be
stored. This system is much more resource efficient than 1,000 individual copies.
An even more efficient method of distributing USENET articles has been developed which allows a single NNTP
news feed machine to be accessed by many other computers. This new method is of special interest to sites with
limited computer resources, such as an elementary school with a few personal computers and modems. You don't
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have to have a machine at your site to store the tens of thousands of USENET articles you might not want to read.
Only articles you are interested in are displayed on your screen from the remote NNTP server.
How Are USENET Newsgroups Organized?
Each USENET newsgroup has a distinct name which describes the discussion carried out in the group. Here are
the names of a few of the many hundreds of USENET newsgroup names to give you a sense both of the diversity
of topics, and how USENET groups names are put together:
alt.usage.english
bionet.agroforestry
bionet.software
bit.listserv.history
bit.listserv.travel-l
biz.comp.services
biz.dec.workstations
comp.sources.apple2
comp.unix.questions
k12.chat.elementary
k12.lang.francais
misc.jobs.offered
misc.rural
news.announce.newusers
news.newusers.questions
pnw.forsale
rec.arts.books
rec.food.recipes
sci.archaeology
sci.math
soc.college.gradinfo
soc.culture.nordic
talk.politics.guns
talk.rumors
uw.general
uw.jobs
All USENET newsgroup names are made up of abbreviations separated by periods, arranged in a hierarchical
fashion. The first part of the name is a major category, and the second (and sometimes third, fourth, or even fifth)
part(s) give increasingly more detail about the topic covered by the group.
For example, "k12.chat.elementary" is a group in the hierarchy created for kindergarten through 12th grade users
(k12) oriented towards casual discussion (or chat) among elementary school students.
There are only a few first level categories, within which may be hundreds of specific newsgroups. Here's a list of
the general topics covered by the some of the most commonly encountered main level categories:
alt
bionet
bit.listserv
biz
comp
k12
misc
news
rec
sci
soc
talk
pnw & uw
a hierarchy for tentative or controversial
groups; not carried by all USENET sites
a hierarchy for biology oriented groups,
primarily intended for research biologists
LISTSERV groups distributed to USENET
Business / corporate oriented discussion
Computer oriented groups
Kindergarten through high school groups
Groups not easily fit into other categories
Groups devoted to news about USENET
Recreation or hobby oriented groups
Science oriented groups
Groups oriented to discussion of particular
cultures or social groups around the world
Groups for free form discussions which often focus on
controversial topics (e.g., abortion, nuclear energy)
examples of regional USENET hierarchies which will be
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explained in more detail below
Consider five hypothetical groups dealing with politics in the United States, each in a different main level
hierarchy:
biz.us.politics
k12.us.politics
sci.poli-sci.us
soc.us.politics
talk.us.politics
The articles within each of these U.S. politics groups are likely to have very different emphases, which helps to
serve the diversity of USENET readers.
USENET ALSO CONTAINS LOCAL GROUPS
Although most of USENET is a global community, it is also set up to address the needs and interests of users in
local areas.
As mentioned above, "pnw" and "uw" are examples of "regional hierarchies." These hierarchies contain groups of
interest to users in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, and to the University of Washington,
respectively. Such regional hierarchies have been set up for many other parts of the world for discussions of local
interest.
Here are some examples of other regional hierarchies to give you an idea of how this system works:
Institutions
Cities
States or provinces
Regions
Countries
Continents
uw
yale
pdx
tor
ab
or
pnw
ne
fnet
nz
eunet
na
Univ. of Washington
Yale University
Portland
Toronto
Alberta
Oregon
Pacific Northwest
New England
France
New Zealand
Europe
North America
Regional newsgroups usually deal with topics that probably wouldn't interest users elsewhere in the world, such as
where Yale's MacIntosh Users Group will meet next week, or why zucchini has suddenly become so expensive in
Alberta. So don't feel like you're missing much, there are hundreds of globally distributed newsgroups to keep
you busy.
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A QUICK OVERVIEW OF USING USENET
What You Should NOT Do On USENET
Although USENET probably would be best described as a quasi-democratic anarchy, there are a few explicitly
forbidden activities:
❏
Do Not Violate Copyright Or Any Other US or International Laws. Feel free to reproduce short
extracts of a copyrighted work for critical purposes in your postings, but reproduction of copyrighted
works in whole or substantial part is forbidden by US and international copyright law. Respect the
hard work of copyrighted authors. Similarly, engaging in or communicating about illegal activities
on USENET is forbidden, and could endanger you and your site's USENET feed.
❏
USENET Is Not For Commercial Communication. This does not mean that you can't discuss
commercial products on USENET. In fact, objective descriptions and comparisons of commercial
computer products is a very useful USENET activity. But, if you represent a company, don't even
think of posting commercial advertisements on USENET. At the very least, you will probably be
flooded by complaints from outraged USENET users, and at the worst, your company's USENET
feed could be endangered.
Getting Started With USENET
To read USENET articles, you use "newsreader software." So, the first thing you need to do before getting started
with USENET is to:
Find out if you have newsreader software on your computer
As you can see in addendum 1, there are many newsreader packages for both mainframes and personal computers.
If you already know the name of your newsreader software, skip ahead to "A Typical USENET session."
If you're not sure of the name or even the existence of newsreader software on your computer, you should ask your
local users services staff or instructor for help. Or, if you're inquisitive, and like to do things on your own, try the
following steps.
❏
If you're using a mainframe computer connected to the Internet, try using your local help system
(e.g., "help" or "man") to determine if one of the newsreading software packages listed in addendum
1 is installed on your system. For example, on a VMS system, you might try "help vnews" or on a
UNIX machine try "man k news".
❏
If you are working from a personal computer such as a Mac or an IBM PC, you might have a PCbased news reader installed which accesses USENET through a modem. Again, try the "help" or
"find" command appropriate to your computer.
❏
If you can't find one of the programs listed in addendum 1, one of them might be installed under a
different name on your computer or you might have a newsreader we haven't listed. But, most
probably, a USENET newsreader is not yet installed on your system. If so, the person administering
you machine might be willing and able to install newsreading software.
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A typical USENET session
Regardless of which newsreading software you use, a typical USENET session usually involves the following
steps:
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Step 8
Step 9
Step 10
Start the newsreader software.
Select a newsgroup.
Scan the titles of articles in that newsgroup.
Read, save or print articles you find particularly interesting.
Send e-mail to another USENET user.
Post an article to the newsgroup.
Clear all remaining articles in the newsgroup so they won't
appear in your next USENET session.
Select another newsgroup.
Repeat steps 3 through 8 as desired.
End your USENET session.
Even though it's not possible to explain how to use all of the newsreaders listed in addendum 1, a quick example
using one of the more commonly encountered newsreaders on UNIX machines ("rn"), is given later in this chapter
to illustrate what going through these steps is actually like.
Newsgroups ALL New USENET Users Should Read
When you first start using USENET, you should read the following two newsgroups to learn the ropes of the
USENET world. The first is:
news.announce.newusers
This newsgroup contains informative articles which are posted every month to help explain the workings of
USENET. Another very useful introductory newsgroup is:
news.newusers.questions
As the name suggests, this is a question and answer forum for new USENET users. If you read this group for
several months, most basic questions you have about USENET that are not answered by this document will be
asked by new users and answered by USENET experts.
If you want to keep abreast of changes and announcements about USENET, you should also read two additional
newsgroups. The discussion group:
news.announce.important
contains announcements about USENET which are likely to be of interest to all USENET users. This group is
*not* for political, commercial, or other non-USENET related announcements, no matter how important.
Another generally useful and informative group is:
news.announce.newsgroups
which is for announcements of the creation of new USENET newsgroups.
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Finding Specialized Newsgroups To Which You Want To Subscribe
There are two basic strategies you can use to find newsgroups with most USENET software:
❏
List all group's names and select groups you want to read.
This is a good strategy if you are just starting to use USENET, and you're not yet sure what's available, or
how newsgroups are named. Although this is done automatically by some newsreaders, in other cases,
you have to explicitly ask for a complete list of available groups. You may then subscribe to groups
whose names interested you.
❏
Use the newsgroup software to search group's names for keywords.
Search through the group's names for a particular word which you think might be in the names of groups
you'd like to read. For example, using "rn", one could search for all the newsgroups whose names
contained the word "mac", using the "/" command followed by the word "mac", in order to identify
newsgroups dealing with Apple Macintosh Computers ("user>" precedes commands you should type;
"rn>" indicates responses from the rn newsreader.)
user> /mac
rn>
rn>
rn>
rn>
rn>
rn>
rn>
rn>
bit.mailserv.word-mac
comp.binaries.mac
comp.emacs
comp.lang.forth.mac
comp.os.mach
comp.sources.mac
comp.sys.mac
comp.sys.mac.announce
... (many more "comp.sys.mac" groups)
rn> gnu.emacs.announce
... (many more "gnu.emacs" groups)
If you use this method to search for newsgroups, try to use the shortest likely abbreviation for a topic
(like "bio" instead of "biology"), and/or scan the master list of USENET groups to get an idea what a
likely abbreviation might be. However, some abbreviations may be redundant and refer to two or even
multiple discussions groups. In this example, the word "mac" is also contained in newsgroup names
which have nothing to do with Macintosh computers, like "comp.os.mach," and "gnu.emacs.bug."
Helpful Strategies For Reading Newsgroups
Your First USENET Session
As was mentioned in the introduction, each USENET site may subscribe to hundreds of groups which together
may contain tens of thousands of articles. Unfortunately, many newsreaders overwhelm the first-time user by
presenting every newsgroup, one by one. This approach is like teaching someone to find books in a library by
presenting each book in the library in order, and asking, "Is this the book you want? No? Is the next book on the
shelf what you want?"
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There are a number of steps you can take to make your introduction to USENET encouraging, not intimidating.
Most importantly:
Start simple. Don't try to read everything. Be selective.
First, issue your newsreader's command which gives the names of all groups available at your site in a list format.
You can then start exploring USENET by subscribing to one or a small number of groups that look really
interesting to you.
Try reading a few articles to get an idea what the discussion in the newsgroup is like. This will allow you to
become familiar with your newsreader software, and will give you a flavor of USENET discussion.
In highly active groups, there may be a backlog of hundreds of articles which you may not have time to read.
Most newsreader software include commands which will erase backlogged articles. Usually a command such as
"catch-up", "clear", or "mark all read," will leave you with a clean and manageably small slate.
Once you've started reading one or more newsgroups that interest you, there are a number of things you can do to
make the most out of your time with USENET.
Read Periodic Postings and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Many USENET groups contain "periodic postings" which contain useful information for the new and intermediate
readers of these newsgroup(s). Such postings usually appear once a month.
Periodic postings include:
❏
Articles explaining USENET etiquette.
❏
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs); these are questions which newcomers to a particular newsgroup
often ask, and which are better answered in periodic postings than in repeated individual answers.
❏
Things to keep in mind before posting articles to that particular newsgroup.
❏
Suggestions about where to find commonly needed information about the Internet generally, or
USENET specifically.
You'll get a lot more out of USENET if you make a point of reading the periodic postings of the newsgroups to
which you subscribe.
You can also read periodic postings by using FTP to retrieve copies from an archive of FAQs stored on a
computer with the Internet address "pit-manager.mit.edu". The files are stored in the directory "/pub/usenet".
Each subdirectory within this directory has the name of a newsgroup name, each of which contains the periodic
postings. Here's an example of the full file name and path of such a FAQ:
/pub/usenet/news.announce.newusers/Answers_to_Frequently_Asked_Questions
If you do not have access to FTP, you can also access the archive via electronic mail. The address of the server is
[email protected]. The names are the same, with the "/pub/" chopped off. To retrieve the file
mentioned above, you would send mail to the mail-server with the text of your message containing only:
send usenet/news.announce.newusers/Answers_to_Frequently_Asked_Questions
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You can also use the send command in e-mail messages to obtain help about how to use this mail server. For
example, the request strings:
send help
send index
send usenet/index
send usenet/news.announce.newusers/index
will solicit help and index information.
Following "threads" of discussion
Even when you are reading a discussion group in a very specialized subject, you will often find that there may be
only a subset of articles you want to take the time to read. Most newsreaders support an automated process for
following threads of discussion. Articles which are on the same topic can be located either by scanning the
subjects, the articles, or even the contents of the articles.
Clearing news you don't want to read
Newsreaders also allow you to automatically erase articles on topics you don't want to read. You can also erase
all articles by USENET users whose postings you have found out you don't want to read. In some cases, you can
set up a "kill" file, which will clear unwanted articles for you every time you use your newsreader.
What You Should Know BEFORE You Make Your Own Postings
All of the suggestions in the e-mail etiquette section of NUSIRG apply to USENET. The document called "A
Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community," as discussed later in the "FTP Archives of USENET
Information" section, is a useful resource for the novice USENET reader. You are strongly encouraged to review
these documents before you become an active part of the USENET Community.
The most important thing to keep in mind when sending messages to USENET is that your message may be sent
to tens of thousands of machines, and read by hundreds of thousands of people. This translates to a significant
quantity of computer resources, and a substantial number of accumulated person hours. All of the specific
suggestions below follow from this simple fact.
❏
Try not to post until you've become familiar with the workings of USENET. Making a premature
posting to USENET is the best way known to embarrass yourself (and your organization) in front of
tens of thousands of people at the stroke of a single key!
❏
No matter what you're posting, be sure you are sending your message to the appropriate newsgroup,
and that you have specified an appropriate "distribution." Check through your local master list of
newsgroups before posting. Sometimes, it may be useful to specify more than one newsgroup. This
multiple posting activity is known as "crossposting," but try not to crosspost unless absolutely
necessary. Distribution refers to how widely your posting is propagated. For example, distributions
available at the University of Washington include "world," "na" for North America, "pnw" for the
pacific northwest, "seattle," and "uw" for the University of Washington. If your posting is only of
local interest, only post it locally. For more information, read the FAQ article "Frequently Submitted
Items" in news.announce.newusers.
❏
If you are responding to someone else's posting, it is often more appropriate to reply directly to that
person with and e-mail message. Use your newsreader's command that sends mail *directly* to that
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user, and not to the newsgroup. If your newsreader doesn't have such a feature, identify the person's
user-id and e-mail address on the "from" line of their message or in the information at the end of
their posting. You can then use your computer's mail software to send them a message.
❏
If you are posting a response to someone else's posting, include enough of their posting in yours to
provide a context for your response. Most newsreaders and e-mail programs provide a feature to do
this easily. However, try to avoid including more of their posting than is necessary to get their point
across.
❏
Sometimes a message to which you are responding has been crossposted, inappropriately, to many
newsgroups. If you respond to such a message, trim down the list of crossposted newsgroups in your
response to those you feel are most appropriate.
❏
Before you post a question, try your local resources including reference books and manuals, local
User Service staff, and friends. If your question might be a "Frequently Asked Question," check
either news.newusers.questions or the newsgroup's FAQ posting, if available.
❏
If you want to send an answer to a question, scan the rest of the submitted articles in the newsgroup
before sending mail or posting. You will often find that one question may elicit an unnecessarily
large number of duplicate answers in a few hours or days. Of course, if your answer is different,
and/or if you are sure that the other answers offered are definitely wrong, you should go ahead and
respond.
❏
Some newsgroups are "moderated," which means that there is a person who screens potential
postings before they are put into the newsgroup. To post to moderated newsgroups, send e-mail
directly to the moderator's user-id and computer. Here are some examples of moderated newsgroups.
Newsgroup Name
Moderator
Moderator's Address
news.announce.newsgroups
David Lawrence
[email protected]
news.announce.important
Mark Horton
[email protected]
news.announce.conferences
Dennis Page
[email protected]
What To Do If Something Goes Wrong
Here are three common problem areas you may encounter when using USENET: you might make a mistake,
someone else might submit rude or insulting postings, or newsreader software might mess up distribution of
USENET articles. Here's what to do in each case.
❏
Suppose you've submitted a posting, but suddenly realized that you didn't want to for one reason or
another. "Oh no, I've sent my question about Nepali culture to rec.sport.football by mistake!"; or
"Wait a second, what I said about x is wrong!" Luckily, most newsreaders allow you to cancel a
submission. Make sure you know what your newsreader's command for this is before you post.
Your submission might still get to a few sites, but you can usually squelch a mistaken submission if
you act quickly. In general, it's not a good idea to post a second message retracting or apologizing
for a posting unless you sincerely feel you've made a grievous mistake.
❏
If someone posts something that obviously violates USENET etiquette, it's usually best not to get
involved. There are plenty of USENET old-timers that can usually deal with the situation in a
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sagacious way. Unfortunately, there are also a few hot-headed individuals who sometimes turn such
situations into "flame-wars," which is USENET slang for a rude, disputatious, and inappropriate
argument which shouldn't be carried out in a newsgroup. Always resist the temptation to get
involved in or start flame wars; there are no winners. And, in the very unlikely event that someone
attacks you personally in a posting, simply ignore it; they'll usually stop. Even the most obnoxious
"flamers" will usually desist when they feel that no one is paying attention. And if you keep your
peace, it will be apparent to anyone reading such a posting that it is the flamer, and not you, who is
of dubious character.
❏
If you have reason to think that your local newsreader or your USENET feed is malfunctioning, find
out who is responsible for maintaining USENET at your site. Unless you are a USENET
administrator you shouldn't post messages about local problems.
Although this may seem to have been an inordinately long introduction to a single Internet resource, USENET is
an unusually rich resource. In fact, apart from e-mail, USENET is probably the most frequently Internet resource
used by the bulk of Internet users.
FTP Archives of USENET Information
Archives of Information About USENET
This is a list of monthly articles posted to news.announce.newusers which provide considerably more detail on the
introductory USENET topics covered in this brief overview.
Introduction to news.announce.newusers
Rules for posting to USENET
What is USENET?
A Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
USENET Software: History and Sources
Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
Hints on writing style for USENET
List of Active Newsgroups
Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies
Regional Newsgroup Hierarchies
List of Moderators
Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Parts I-III
List of Periodic Informational Postings
How to Create a New Newsgroup
How to Get Information about Networks
How to Create a New Trial Newsgroup
A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
If you already have access to USENET, go to the introductory "newsgroup news.announce.newusers" to read
them. If you do not yet have access to USENET, but do have access to the Internet, these files are available via
anonymous FTP from the FTP host:
pit-manager.mit.edu
in the directory
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pub/usenet/news.announce.newusers
Each of the files has the same name as in the list above, with spaces filled by the underscore character. For
example, the article entitled "List of Moderators" above is stored in pit-manager.mit.edu as:
pub/usenet/news.announce.newusers/List_of_Moderators
Archives of Other Past USENET Articles
Finally, the articles submitted to most active USENET discussion groups have been archived at various locations
around the world. Although there is no single repository, there are a number of large archives which you should
investigate if you want to find either old USENET discussions or USENET discussion groups which your site does
not receive.
Some of the larger collections of archived newsgroups can be found at the following FTP sites:
pit-manager.mit.edu
wuarchive.wustl.edu
uunet.uu.net
If you are looking for archives of a group which is not contained in these sites, you can use the Archie program
(described in Chapter 6) to search for an FTP site containing the name of the newsgroup whose archive you are
seeking.
A Typical USENET Session (With the Newsreader "rn")
Even if you don't use "rn", the following example should give you a feeling for what a typical USENET session
involves. This is meant to capture the spirit, not the details, of using USENET.
Commands you would type are preceded by "user>" to indicate that you should type the command which follows.
Responses from the newsreader software appear after "rn>". These will not appear in an actual rn session.
Step 1. To Start the newsreading software, simply type
user> rn
Most newsreaders will respond with a series of informative messages, and a list of a few basic commands
including how to get on-line help.
rn> Trying to set up a ".newsrc" file--running newsetup...
rn> Creating .newsrc in /u2/user-id.
rn> Done.
rn> To unsubscribe to groups use the "u" command.
rn> To list groups you can subscribe to use the "l" command.
rn> To subscribe to a newsgroup use the "g" command.
rn> Type h for help at any time while running rn.
rn> (Revising soft pointers--be patient.)
rn> Unread news in news.announce.important
11 articles
rn> Unread news in news.announce.newsgroups
132 articles
rn> Unread news in news.announce.newusers
45 articles
rn> Unread news in news.newusers.questions
85 articles
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...etc.
rn> 11 articles in news.announce.important--read now? [ynq]
Step 2. Select a newsgroup to read.
The "[ynq]" prompt offers you some possible responses to the question "read now?" (y = yes, n = no, q = quit). In
this and most other cases, though, you can still issue other commands. At this point, we will go to another
newsgroup by typing "g" followed by the name of a newsgroup. In other newsreaders, you might use an arrow
cursor, a mouse or a function key to obtain the same result.
user> g news.announce.newusers
rn> Group news.announce.newusers -- subscribe? [yn]
user> y
rn> 20 articles in news.announce.newusers--read now? [ynq]
Step 3. To display the subjects of articles in a newsgroup, in "rn," you'd type the "=" sign.
user> =
rn>
rn>
rn>
rn>
rn>
286 Introduction to news.announce
287 Rules for posting to USENET
288 What is USENET?
289 A Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community
290 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
(etc..)
Step 4. To read an article whose title interests you in "rn" simply type the article's number as shown in the
column of numbers in the list above.
rn> What next? [^Nnpq]
user> 290
You'll then see the first page of the article you've requested. Each article begins with a header much like a
standard e-mail header, and other header lines unique to USENET articles:
rn> Article 290 (19 more)
in news.announce.newusers (moderated):
rn> From:
[email protected] (Gene Spafford)
rn> Subject:
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
rn> Message-ID:
<[email protected]>
rn> Date:
25 Jul 91 23:15:55 GMT
rn> Organization:
Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ.
rn> Lines:
674
rn> Supersedes:
<[email protected]>
rn> Original-from:
[email protected] (Jerry Schwarz)
rn> [Most recent change:
23 Jul by [email protected] (G. Spafford)]
rn>
rn>
Frequently Submitted Items
rn>
rn> This document discusses some questions and topics that occur
rn> repeatedly on USENET. They frequently are submitted by new
rn> users, and result in many follow-ups, sometimes swamping groups
rn> for weeks. The purpose of this note is to head off these
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rn> annoying events by answering some questions and warning about
rn> the inevitable
rn> --MORE--(4%)
The article has now filled up the screen. In rn, you press the space bar, to see the next screenfull of the message.
user> <space bar>
rn> consequence of asking others. If you don't like these answers
rn> let [email protected] know.
rn>
rn> Note that some newsgroups have their own special "Frequent
rn> Questions & Answers" posting. You should read a group for a
rn> while before posting any questions, because the answers may
rn> already be present. Comp.unix.questions and comp.unix.internals
rn> are examples -- Steve Hayman regularly posts an article that
rn> answers common questions, including some of the ones asked here.
rn>
rn> This list is often referred to as FAQ -- the Frequently Asked
rn> Questions. If you are a new user of the USENET and don't find
rn> an answer to your questions here, you can try asking in the
rn> news.newusers.questions group.
rn> --MORE--(4%)
You now have several options, including displaying the next page of the article, saving it to a file on your
computer, or leaving the article for another within the newsgroup. In rn, to save the file you type "s" or "w"
followed by the name you want to give to the copy you're saving to your computer:
user> s news.announce.newusers.faq
rn> (messages and prompts about saving the file)
rn> End of article 290 (of 305)--what next? [^Nnpq]
To leave a newsgroup, you type another "q". You could go to another newsgroup by typing "g newsgroup.name".
To leave "rn," you type a final "q". Exiting a newsgroup reader will return you to your computer's operating
system.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT USENET
For Help Using An Already Installed Newsreader
Your best bet is to use help within the newsreader software you are using. More extensive help can usually be
found in help files or man pages which should be installed on your computer. If you can't find an answer to your
question by consulting with online, printed, or local user services help, you can post a message to a USENET
newsgroup. Of course, this is assuming your problem is not inability to post a message! Be sure to include the
name and version of the newsreader you are using, and what operating system you are working with. If you don't,
you either won't get an answer, or someone will snipe at you. By way of fair warning, posted questions about
using USENET software raises some net-people's hackles.
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Published Book
Todinao, G. 1986. "Using UUCP and USENET: A Nutshell Handbook." O'Reilly and Associates, Newton, MA.
Online Information
USENET is a particularly well-documented Internet resource. There are hundreds of FAQ files and other
introductory materials to help get you started. This chapter represents a distillation of many of the "periodic
postings" maintained and posted by Gene Spafford (to "news.announce.newusers"). By subscribing to a number
of introductory USENET newsgroups, you will gradually learn the folkways of the USENET community, and
become familiar with the many ways in which USENET can be used.
Good Introductory USENET Newsgroups
news.announce.newusers
news.answers
news.newusers.questions
ADDENDUM 1: USENET NEWSREADING SOFTWARE PACKAGES AND SOURCE INFO
This list of FTP sources for newsreader software is meant to be representative, not comprehensive. Most all of
these packages can be found on many sites not listed below. Some of the best FTP sites for single-stop shopping
appear to be gatekeeper.dec.com, uunet.uu.net, and wuarchive.wustl.edu. All archive sites and directory locations
listed in this NUSIRG were checked for accuracy in September 1991. The actual name of the file in the indicated
directory may not precisely correspond to the common name of the program. Some programs are stored in
multiple pieces which have to be reassembled locally, and many are stored in a compressed or archived format.
For example, vnews for SUN/OS in alw.nih.gov is stored as "vnews-sun4.tar.Z". For a more comprehensive or
current listing of archival sites containing USENET newsreader software, try using "Archie" (described in detail in
Chapter 6 of NUSIRG).
Thanks to many USENET readers for helping me collect this information!
Operating System
and Program Name
FTP site & directory
or e-mail contact
Directory Path
minnehaha.rhrk.uni-kl.de
ab20.larc.nasa.gov
uunet.uu.net
minnehaha.rhrk.uni-kl.de
uunet.uu.net
pub/amiga/UUCP
amiga/utilities/comm/Arn068.lzh
comp.sources.amiga/volume91/news
pub/amiga/UUCP
comp.sources.amiga/volume91/news
tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
uunet.uu.net
HyperNeWS
NeWS/HyperNeWS1.4
Amiga
ann
arn
barn
gnews
vn
Apple Mac
HyperNeWS
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85
bitsy.mit.edu
cricket.bio.indiana.edu
earth.rs.itd.umich
cricket.bio.indiana.edu
earth.rs.itd.umich.edu
[email protected]
pub/news
util/mac
mac/utilities/communications
util/mac
mac/utilities/communications
contact e-mail address at left
wuarchive.wustl.edu
ames.arc.nasa.gov
tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
perelandra.cms.udel.edu
wuarchive.wustl.edu
clvax1.cl.msu.edu
mirrors/msdos/lan
pub/MSDOS/PCRRN
pcrrn
src/Net/snuz
usenet/comp.binaries.ibm.pc/
volume12/snuz
winvn.zip
samba.acs.unc.edu
pub/news
apple.com
wuarchive.wustl.edu
uunet.uun.net
uxc.cso.uiuc.edu
uxc.cso.uiuc.edu
wuarchive.wustl.edu
uunet.uun.net
uunet.uu.net
june.cs.washington.edu
bode.ee.ualberta.ca
plains.nodak.edu
[email protected]
gatekeeper.dec.com
uunet.uu.net
wuarchive.wustl.edu
phloem.uoregon.edu
uunet.uu.net
pub/ArchiveVol1/gnu
mirrors/unix-c/usenet
news/nn
pub/nnotes-1.4.tar.Z
usenet/notes
usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume1
usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume1
news/rn
news
pub/unix.Z
pub/alt/tass
send e-mail to user-id at left
news/misc
news
usenet/comp.sources.unix/volume1/ *
pub/src/x11
packages/X/contrib
NetNews
[email protected]
nnr
[email protected]
see LISTSERV chapter for info on
how to access LISTSERVers
send e-mail to user-id at left
kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
uunet.uu.net
vms.ecs.rpi.edu
ANU_V60-3
news/anu-news
newsrdr/
NewsWatcher
TheNews
uAccess
MS-DOS
pcnews
pcrrn
snuz
WinVN
NeXT
next_nn
UNIX
Gnews
nn
nnotes
notes
readnews
rn
rrn
tass
tin
trn
vnews
xrn
VM/CMS
VMS
Anu-News
Newsrdr
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86
arizona.edu
uhunix2f.uhcc.hawaii.edu
software/vms/vnews
pub/vms/vnews
flash.bellcore.com
pub/lispm/news-reader
Symbolics Lisp
news-reader
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Chapter 8: LISTSERV Discussion Lists
WHAT IS LISTSERV?
LISTSERV is a computer program installed on computers in the BITNET network which manages "Discussion
Groups" (or "lists") for people who have shared interests.
WHAT IS A LISTSERV DISCUSSION LIST?
"LISTSERV discussion lists" (or discussion groups) are topic-oriented forums distributed by e-mail, dealing with a
wide variety of topics. Once you've subscribed to a LISTSERV discussion list, messages from other subscribers
are automatically sent to your electronic mailbox.
To give you an idea of just how specific the topics can be, here are the subjects of 10 of the more than 2,000
currently active LISTSERV lists:
Albert Einstein's Writings
Apple-II Computer
Ecology and the Biosphere
Fly Fishing
Funny Jokes, Funny Stories
Human Genome Mapping
Japanese Language
Ocean Drilling
Robotics
Science Fiction
You might be the only person in your entire county who'd want to read a whole newspaper every day about robots
or fly fishing. But there are many people in the world who are interested in robots or fly fishing, and many of
them are already communicating daily about their interests with services like LISTSERV discussion lists.
No matter where you live, you can automatically receive messages from people who are subscribed to
LISTSERV groups on topics that interest you.
WHAT IS A LISTSERVER?
A LISTSERVer is a copy of the LISTSERV program installed on computers on the BITNET network. Each
LISTSERVer maintains subscription lists for a number of discussion groups.
HOW DOES LISTSERV WORK?
Any time you or someone else sends an e-mail message to the LISTSERVer which manages a discussion group,
that LISTSERV program automatically distributes the message to every other subscriber. LISTSERV discussion
groups make it easy for you to communicate with other people about a particular topic, without having to know
their user-ids or e-mail addresses ahead of time.
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The LISTSERV service is like an electronic newspaper, except every "article" is sent to you separately. Both
LISTSERV discussion groups and newspapers contain news and articles concerning topics in which you are
interested. Both allow you to contribute messages which are distributed to other subscribers.
Subscribing to a LISTSERV discussion group is also similar to subscribing to a newspaper, except that you and a
LISTSERVer communicate with e-mail, instead of postal mail. You find out what lists are available and request
subscription or cancellation by sending e-mail to a LISTSERVer. A LISTSERVer uses e-mail to handle
subscription information and to distribute messages to and from subscribers.
A SHORT SUMMARY OF HOW TO USE LISTSERV FROM THE INTERNET
1. Get a catalog of LISTSERV discussion groups by sending e-mail to a LISTSERVer containing the message
"list global."
mail:
message:
listserv%[email protected]
list global
In a few minutes, the LISTSERVer will acknowledge your request and then send a copy of the "global list."
2. Read the "global list." Each line in this list has a list's name, the BITNET address of the LISTSERVer which
manages that list, and a brief description of the list's discussion topic. Here are 5 lines from a global list.
Listname
Computer Address
Brief Description
AGRIC-L
ALF-L
ALLMUSIC
ALTLEARN
APPLE2-L
AGRIC-L@UGA
ALF-L@YORKVM1
ALLMUSIC@AUVM
ALTLEARN@SJUVM
APPLE2-L@BROWNVM
Agriculture Discussion
Academic Librarian's Forum
Discussions on Music
Approaches to Learning
Apple II List
3. Select a LISTSERV group to which you want to subscribe and send an e-mail subscription request.
*** IMPORTANT! ***
The addresses in the global list are BITNET addresses. Internet must communicate through one of several
BITNET-Internet "gateways." Here's how it works:
BITNET address:
Gateway address:
listserv@NODE
listserv%[email protected]
where "NODE" is the BITNET address, and "GATE.WAY.ADDRESS" is one of the following BITNET-Internet
gateways:
cornellc.cornell.cit.edu
or
cunyvm.cuny.edu
or
mitvma.mit.edu
For example, to subscribe to the AGRIC-L discussion group, use the following address and command string.
mail:
message:
listserv%[email protected]
subscribe agric-l your-full-name
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4. You will receive acknowledgement of your subscription, a basic introduction about LISTSERV services, and
messages from other subscribers to the discussion group.
5. To send a message to the group, send mail to the group's name at its address (using a BITNET.Internet
gateway).
mail
message
[email protected]@mitvma.mit.edu
Whatever it is you want to send to the group!
A SUMMARY OF BASIC LISTSERV COMMANDS
LISTSERV is a computer program, so it only understands certain commands. Everything you "say" to a
LISTSERVer in your e-mail messages has to fit a precise syntax.
Here's a summary of important commands that you can send to a LISTSERVer, presented in the order in which
you are likely to need them. Every one of these commands is used by putting it as a single line message in e-mail
to a LISTSERVer. The LISTSERVer sends a response to you by e-mail.
❏
To see what LISTSERV groups are available:
list global
❏
To get a LISTSERV "reference card" summarizing all LISTSERV commands:
get refcard
❏
To subscribe to a LISTSERV group:
subscribe LISTNAME your-full-name
❏
To cancel a subscription to a LISTSERV group:
unsubscribe LISTNAME your-full-name
❏
To get an index of archived files about a group stored on a LISTSERVer:
index LISTNAME
❏
To get a particular file from the index list:
get FILENAME FILETYPE
For example, the list "apple-2 might have files called "apple-2 logYYMM" where "YY" is a year and
"MM" is a month. In other words, "apple-2 log9109" would be the log of discussions in apple-2 for
September 1991.
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WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW BEFORE USING LISTSERV
LISTSERV is a BITNET Network Service
LISTSERV is one of the notable services of BITNET, a network devoted to networking of educational
institutions. Although BITNET LISTSERVers are available on the Internet, use of LISTSERVer by non-BITNET
users should be viewed as a special privilege, not a right. BITNET is supported by annual dues from member
institutions, so if you are not at a BITNET member institution, someone else is paying for your use of LISTSERV.
Mail To the Discussion Group Is Sent To the List Name, Not to "LISTSERV"
All messages which you want other people in the discussion group to read should be addressed to the name of the
list. For example
apple-2%[email protected]
where "NODE" is the BITNET address, and "GATE.WAY.ADDRESS" is the BITNET-Internet gateway of your
choice.
All e-mail concerning subscriptions, LISTSERV help files, etc., should be addressed to the LISTSERVer:
listserv%[email protected]
In summary, "LISTSERV" is the user-id of a program which manages lists, and the list name is the user-id of the
list which people read! Be sure you understand this difference.
This is probably the biggest source of confusion which beginner LISTSERV users encounter.
Many LISTSERV Groups Are Available Through "USENET"
Many of the more popular LISTSERV groups are available through USENET, which *is* an Internet service. For
more information on USENET, and how to find out which LISTSERV groups are available, see Chapter 7 of
NUSIRG.
There Are Many LISTSERVers Throughout The World
In step 1 of the previous example, you were shown how to send a message to a particular LISTSERVer, the
LISTSERVer at the BITNET Network Information Center (BITNIC). Any listserv command can be sent to any
computer which has the LISTSERV program. The "global list" contains the BITNET addresses of all computers
which have LISTSERVers.
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Many LISTSERVers Are Installed On Computers Which Are Part Of BITNET *And* The
Internet
For example, the IBM 3090 at the University of Washington, "uwavm.u.washington.edu", is also directly
connected to BITNET, and is known in the BITNET world as "uwavm". In such cases, you can send messages to
a LISTSERVer directly without having to go through a gateway. For example, you can communicate with the
LISTSERVers at UW with the following mail message:
mail: [email protected]
LISTSERV Subscriptions Can Become Overwhelming
Unlike a newspaper, which is usually only delivered once a day, with all the articles in a single package,
LISTSERV discussion groups send every article by itself to every subscriber of the discussion group. Some
LISTSERV groups are very active, and can send 10's if not 100's of messages to your electronic mailbox every
day.
If you've ever subscribed to two or more newspapers, you know how quickly last weeks and last months issues can
pile up. Now imagine that instead of a single issue of each newspaper each day, you had to separately handle
every single article from every newspaper every day!
This is one of the main drawbacks to the LISTSERV system. If you're subscribed to several LISTSERV
discussion groups, and don't check you electronic mailbox for a couple of days, you might find several hundred
mail files from LISTSERVers waiting for you. Reading all of these files, or even deleting them all, can take hours
of your time. If you are using a small computer system, the impact on your computing and disk resources could
be substantial, even disastrous.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LISTSERV
The best sources of information about LISTSERV LISTSERVers and the people who subscribe to LISTSERV
groups.
To get LISTSERV help files and other information, send one of the following commands to the LISTSERVer of
your choice.
Command
What You Will Get
get info filelist
a list of all LISTSERV files on that
LISTSERVer containing LISTSERV help
get tools filelist
a list of useful LISTSERV tools for the
LISTSERV program (such as LISTDB which
is a very powerful database program)
for searching LISTSERV log files for information)
help
a brief list of LISTSERV commands
info refcard
an expanded list of LISTSERV commands
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index
a list of all files stored on that LISTSERVer
list global
a list of all lists known to that LISTSERVer
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SECTION 4: KNOWLEDGE AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Chapter 9: Electronic Journals ............................................................................................... 96
What Are Electronic Journals?................................................................................. 96
What Kinds of Electronic Journals are Available?.................................................... 96
How to Subscribe to Electronic Journals .................................................................. 96
For More Information About Electronic Journals ..................................................... 97
Chapter 10: Electronic Books ................................................................................................ 98
What Are Electronic Books?.................................................................................... 98
How Do You Use Electronic Books? ....................................................................... 98
Project Gutenberg .................................................................................................... 98
The Advantage Foundation ...................................................................................... 100
The Oxford Text Archives ....................................................................................... 101
For More Information About Electronic Books ........................................................ 102
Chapter 11: Accessing Library Catalogs Through The Internet.............................................. 103
What You Can Do With All OPACs ........................................................................ 103
Additional Special Features of Some OPACs ........................................................... 103
What You Can't Do (Yet) With OPACs ................................................................... 104
Essential Guides for Using OPACs .......................................................................... 104
Effective Use of Online-Catalogs (or, "How to Think Like an OPAC").................... 105
Getting Started With Internet Access of OPACs....................................................... 105
For More Information About OPACs and Related Topics ........................................ 117
Chapter 12: Internet Accessible Databases and Bibliographies .............................................. 119
What Is Included In This Chapter............................................................................. 119
What is NOT Included Here, and Where to Find It .................................................. 119
Databases of Databases ............................................................................................ 119
What You Need to Use Internet Databases............................................................... 120
Organization of the Chapter ..................................................................................... 120
Organization of the Entries ...................................................................................... 121
Chapter 13: WAIS ( Wide Area Information Server ) : An Interface to Databases ................. 148
What is WAIS?........................................................................................................ 148
How WAIS Works ................................................................................................... 148
For Current Information About WAIS...................................................................... 149
For More Information On WAIS .............................................................................. 157
Keeping Up To Date With WAIS............................................................................. 157
Technical Contact:................................................................................................... 158
Published References About WAIS.......................................................................... 158
Chapter 14: Internet Directory Services ................................................................................. 159
Overview of Using Internet Directory Services ........................................................ 159
Current Capabilities of Internet Directory Services .................................................. 160
Technical And Ethical Challenges to Internet Directory Services............................. 160
Finding A Person On the Internet (The Easy Way)................................................... 161
Finding a Person on the Internet with Directory Services ......................................... 161
Knowbot Information Server (KIS) .......................................................................... 163
USENET-Addresses Server (U-ASK)....................................................................... 165
PSI White Pages Pilot X.500 Project........................................................................ 166
Internet Directory Services: Where Do We Go From Here? ..................................... 169
Section 4: Knowledge at Your Fingertips
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Information Services on the Internet
By now, you are probably aware that many of the services mentioned in Sections 2 and 3 of NUSIRG are
tremendous sources of information: FTP file archives contain a wealth of computer programs and documents, and
many USENET and LISTSERV groups are filled with useful and informative discussion.
Section 4, however, is devoted to more formal and highly structured sources of information, such as library
catalogs and databases.
ELECTRONIC JOURNALS
Electronic journals are essentially like printed magazines, except they are distributed as computer files in a
network.
ELECTRONIC BOOKS
Electronic books, or e-texts, are essentially the electronic equivalents of regular printed books.
ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOGS (OPACS)
OPACs are network accessible library catalogs which you can browse from your own computer.
ONLINE DATABASES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES
These services allow you to access databases which you can use for research or education.
WIDE AREA INFORMATION SERVER (WAIS)
WAIS is an example of a "database of databases" which can pull together diverse information services available
on a network into one easy-to-use service. Applications like WAIS are likely to become essential tools for quick
and easy access to the wealth of information stored in computer networks.
NETWORK DIRECTORY SERVICES
These services allow you to locate people and computers on a network, much like you would use "white pages" or
"yellow pages" to find the phone numbers of people and services.
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Chapter 9: Electronic Journals
WHAT ARE ELECTRONIC JOURNALS?
"Electronic journals" are the computer network equivalent of printed magazines in form and function. They
usually feature submitted articles, which are screened and edited to a common format, and often deal with a
relatively broad topic. "Electronic newsletters" are usually shorter, more specific, and, as the name would
suggest, more oriented towards news and announcements.
WHAT KINDS OF ELECTRONIC JOURNALS ARE AVAILABLE?
There are a wide variety of electronic journals and newsletters which, just like printed magazines, range from the
mainstream to the esoteric.
Some electronic journals are nearly indistinguishable from formal and scholarly printed journals of learned
societies. These journals are published only after rigorous "peer review" and articles accepted for publication
focus on the leading concerns of established academic disciplines. Other journals are considerably more informal
and contain a wide variety of articles of general interest.
The documents listed in the "For More Information Section" provide comprehensive and up-to-date listings of the
many electronic journals and newsletters which are available.
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO ELECTRONIC JOURNALS
To get regular printed magazines, you can subscribe and have each issue sent to you by mail, or you can go to a
newsstand to pick up each issue individually.
Obtaining electronic journals works in essentially the same way, except everything is done from a computer on
the Internet.
1. You can send a subscription request and receive each issue via electronic mail
2. You can obtain current or old issues via FTP, LISTSERVers, or mail-servers
Here's an example of how to subscribe to an electronic journal known as "The Electronic Journal of
Communication / La Revue Electronique de Communication," a bilingual, quarterly journal devoted to
communication theory, research, practice and policy.
Address an e-mail message to:
[email protected]
containing the message:
join ejcrec your full name
e.g.:
Chapter 9: Electronic Journals
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join ejcrec Jane Q. Public
Note that this subscription request, as is the case with many subscription requests, will be processed by an
electronic mail server - a computer program which only understands a certain limited and specific set of
commands (for more information on electronic mail servers, refer to Chapter 3 of NUSIRG).
The information you will need to subscribe to or obtain back issues of most available electronic journals are
provided in the documents listed below.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ELECTRONIC JOURNALS
If you want to subscribe to electronic journals, you should get a copy of the document entitled "Directory of
Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Scholarly Discussion Lists," published by the Association of Research
Libraries.
This directory currently lists over 500 scholarly lists, about 30 journals, over 60 newsletters, and 15 "other" titles
including some newsletter-digests and specific instructions for obtaining each publication by mail or via FTP.
Electronic copies of this directory are currently available from the following LISTSERVers:
[email protected]
listserv%[email protected]
Filenames (notice the spellings!):
ejournl1 directry
ejournl2 directry
Example Syntax:
mail:
subject:
message:
listserv%[email protected]
(none necessary)
get ejournl1 directry
If you want to purchase a bound book version of this information, contact:
Office of Scientific & Academic Publishing
Association of Research Libraries
1527 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036 USA
e-mail:
phone:
arlhq%umdc@
(202) 232-2466 or 462-7849
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Chapter 10: Electronic Books
WHAT ARE ELECTRONIC BOOKS?
In the broadest sense, an electronic book is any document which is lengthy enough to be considered a book, and
which is stored on a diskette, a hard drive, a magnetic tape, or a compact disk (CD).
By this definition, you are currently reading part of an electronic book, since the NUSIRG is available, in its
entirety, as files from the NorthWestNet FTP archives. And, by this definition, the many computer-related
manuals which are available by FTP can also be thought of as electronic books, sometimes referred to as "e-texts."
But this chapter will focus on a special class of electronic books, "classical texts" of world literature such as The
Declaration of Independence, The Great Gatsby, the Bible and the Koran, the Oxford English Dictionary, or even
"Hikayat Indraputra," the notable Malay romance.
HOW DO YOU USE ELECTRONIC BOOKS?
Electronic books are stored as computer files. You can read electronic books at your computer screen, print them
out in plain text, and if you have access to the right hardware and software, you can often print elegantly
formatted output on a laser printer.
The rest of this chapter describes each of the three current major providers of electronic books: Project Gutenberg
and The Advantage Foundation, which concentrate on "popular" classics in the English language; and The Oxford
Text Archives, which is a repository for hundreds of e-texts of special interest to literary scholars. The Oxford
Text Archive service also features an information service to tell you about the source of many other e-texts
throughout the world.
PROJECT GUTENBERG
Project Gutenberg is a not-for-profit organization whose goal is to prepare electronic editions of more than 10,000
books by the year 2001. All documents are available as text-only files, but many can also be obtained in fancy
PostScript or troff formats.
As of September, 1991, the following e-texts are being distributed by Project Gutenberg:
Alice in Wonderland
As You Like It
Declaration of Independence
The Federalist Papers
The Holy Koran
Through the Looking Glass
Moby Dick
The Book of Mormon
The Hunting of the Snark
U.S. Constitution
The World Fact Book
The Night Before Christmas
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Many other documents are currently being prepared by Project Gutenberg, including The Oxford English
Dictionary, Paradise Lost, Peter Pan, and even the 11th Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
How to Obtain Project Gutenberg E-Texts
Electronic books from Project Gutenberg can be obtained most easily by FTP or mail-server. If you don't have
access to the Internet, you can purchase floppy disk versions by postal mail, but mail orders will be considerably
slower for you, and more time consuming for Project Gutenberg.
FTP Hosts for Project Gutenberg E-Texts
As of September 1991, Project Gutenberg files could be retrieved from the following FTP Hosts:
1.
FTP Host:
directory:
filenames:
quake.think.com
pub/etext
alice27a.txt
as-you-like-it.text
...etc.
2.
FTP Host:
directory:
filenames:
mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu
etext
alice26a.txt
lglass16.txt
...etc.
3.
FTP Host:
directory:
filenames:
oes.orst.edu
pub/almanac/guten
alice27a+.ms.Z
alice27a.txt.Z
...etc.
(Note that most files
in this FTP Host are
in compression format.)
Almanac Mail Server for Project Gutenberg E-Texts
You can also order copies of Project Gutenberg documents by sending an e-mail message to the Oregon Extension
Service's Almanac Information Server:
mail:
subject:
[email protected]
(none needed)
send guten FILENAME
where "FILENAME" is one of the following filenames
alice
koran
snark
as-you-like-it
lglass
us-const
dec-of-ind
moby
world
feder
mormon
xmas
For more information on the Almanac Information Server (which provides many other services as well), send the
following e-mail message:
mail:
[email protected]
Chapter 10: Electronic Books
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
subject:
message:
100
(none needed)
send guide
For More Information About Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a not-for-profit effort which relies on volunteer assistance for submission and proofing of
electronic texts, and legal issues concerning copyright law. For more information, contact:
Michael S. Hart, Director Project Gutenberg
405 West Elm St.
Urbana, IL 61801
[email protected]
THE ADVANTAGE FOUNDATION
Like Project Gutenberg, the Advantage Foundation is a not-for-profit organization concentrating on English
language literature.
As of September, 1991, the following e-texts were available from The Advantage Foundation:
Common Sense
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Part 1)
Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
U.S. Constitution
War of the Worlds
How to Obtain Advantage Foundation E-Texts
The Advantage Foundation is not yet connected to the Internet. Files can be downloaded from an easy-to-use
Bulletin Board Service (BBS) in Houston, TX, accessed via a modem call to (713) 977-9505.
Files at the Advantage Foundation are stored in compressed format (ZIP). For information on how to download
and handle "zipped files," consult the passage in Chapter 4 of NUSIRG entitled "The ABC's Of Handling Special
Files."
For More Information About the Advantage Foundation
The Advantage Foundation
P.O. Box 773425
Houston, TX 77215
(713) 977-1719 (Fax/Voice Mail)
(713) 977-9505 (Bulletin Board Service)
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THE OXFORD TEXT ARCHIVES
Unlike Project Gutenberg and The Advantage Foundation, the Oxford Text Archives is oriented towards e-texts of
special interest to literary scholars. It contains hundreds of e-texts in many different languages. Many of the etexts contained in this archive either have to be purchased, or have restrictions on their distribution and use.
Nonetheless, this is a truly extraordinary resource which deserves your interest. Here is a very brief excerpt from
The Oxford Text Archives' large holdings to give you a feeling of the wealth and variety of materials that are
available from this source:
A la Recherche du Temps Perdu
Arabic Prose Samples.
Aristotle, Complete Works (in Greek)
Beowulf
Blues Lyric Poetry: An Anthology
British Columbian Indian Myths
Chinese Telegraphic Code Character Set
Das Nibelungenlied
Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language
Genji Monogatari
Hamlet
Hikayat Indraputra (a Malay Romance)
Homer, Complete Works (in Greek)
Hyckerscorner. Wynkyn de Worde
Il paradiso, Il purgatorio, L'Inferno
Llyr gwyn Rhydderch: Ronabwy
MRC Psycholinguistic Database
Orwell's "1984" (in Croatian)
Plato, Collected Works (in Greek)
The Aeneid
The Origin of Species
Another extraordinarily valuable service of The Oxford Text Archives is a database of information about e-texts
available from other archives around the world!
How To Access The Oxford Text Archives
Direct network access to The Oxford Text Archives is currently only possible from within England via the JANET
Network:
FTP Host:
file:
uk.ac.ox.vax
[archive].snapshot.lis
Access from the Internet in the United States via the Internet-Janet Gateway (TELNET to sun.nsf-relay.ac.uk)
may be possible by time you read this guide. For more up-to-date information on this gateway service, send an email message with the following two lines of text in the body of your message:
mail:
subject:
message:
[email protected]
(none needed)
Request:janetpad
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102
userguide
For More Information About The Oxford Text Archives
The definitive U.S. FTP host for information about the Oxford archives is:
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
ra.msstate.edu
pub/docs/history/e-documents
oxford.text.archives
oxford.text.order.form
(general description)
(how to get e-texts)
You can also contact the archives by postal mail or e-mail. E-mail inquiries will, in general, be processed much
more quickly.
Oxford Text Archive
Oxford University Computing Service
13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN, UK
e-mail: [email protected]
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ELECTRONIC BOOKS
This is a rapidly growing area, and by the time you read this, there may be many additional providers of electronic
books other than the three discussed in this document:
1. The Oxford Text Archives maintains a database of information about e-texts available from many other
archives around the world:
Oxford Text Archive
Oxford University Computing Service
13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN, UK
e-mail: [email protected]
2. The following discussion group is currently mostly for and about Project Gutenberg, but it also a forum for
discussion about the many issues (legal, pedagogical, etc..) concerning e-texts generally.
Listserv Discussion Group
mail:
subject:
message:
listserv%[email protected]
(none needed)
subscribe gutnberg YOUR-FULL-NAME
USENET Newsgroup (cross-posting of the Listserv Discussion Group)
bit.listserv.gutnberg
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Chapter 11: Accessing Library Catalogs Through The
Internet
The library was laid out on a plan which has remained obscure...only the librarian has
received the secret, and he communicates it, while still alive, to the assistant
librarian...only the librarian has, in addition to that knowledge, the right to move
through the labyrinth of the books, he alone knows where to find them and where to
replace them...The other monks may know the list of the volumes that the library
houses; only the librarian knows, from the collocation of the volume, from its degree of
inaccessibility, what secrets, what truths or falsehoods, the volume contains...a spiritual
labyrinth, it is also a terrestrial labyrinth...
Umberto Eco
The Name of the Rose
Hundreds of the world's best libraries are now accessible to anyone connected to the Internet. Access to most of
these libraries is completely free, and usually available any time, day or night, from anywhere in the world.
Over the past decade, many libraries have started putting their card catalogs into computer databases that can be
used with "online library catalogs" or "online public access catalogs" ("OPACs").
Using an OPAC is essentially just like using a card catalog. The only difference is that instead of pulling drawers
and riffling through cards, you login to an OPAC from a computer, and search the catalog by typing the key words
on which you want to base your search. No matter how small your local or institutional library is, information
about tens of millions of books and articles is now at your fingertips. Thus, it's easy to understand why OPACs
are a significant and extremely powerful development in access to information.
WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH ALL OPACS
❏
❏
❏
Search for books by subject, title, or author.
Obtain detailed bibliographic information about the books found by your search.
If you are accessing an OPAC from your own mainframe account or a personal computer, you can
save the on-screen results of your searches to your own computer for local use. (For example, the
program, 'script' in UNIX will save what appears as output to your screen to a file. Type "man
script" to get more information.)
ADDITIONAL SPECIAL FEATURES OF SOME OPACS
In addition to the basic subject/title/author searches, many OPACs allow you to do one or more (or even all) of the
following:
❏
❏
read brief summaries of books or articles,
search for articles from newspapers and/or journals,
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❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
104
search catalogs of special collections: CDs, videos, movies, photographs, maps, microfilm, and
phonographs,
search special databases,
do searches by other variables, such as "keywords,"
construct pin-point searches with the logical operators AND, OR, and NOT, or other specialized
searching functions,
determine if a book is currently checked out,
set up inter-library loans,
if there are multiple copies of a book in various branch libraries served by the OPAC, find the
location of the nearest copy, and
record results of your search and send them instantaneously (or by e-mail ) to your own computer for
local use.
WHAT YOU CAN'T DO (YET) WITH OPACS
❏
❏
read the actual text of documents or
browse randomly through the library's shelves, encountering books, that by chance, may turn out to
be tremendously interesting for current or unanticipated interests. (Thus OPACs currently do not
foster the "serendipity effect.")
ESSENTIAL GUIDES FOR USING OPACS
If you are planning to use OPACs through the Internet, you will find the following two documents very useful.
These documents provide detailed access and descriptive information about the rapidly growing number of
OPACs you can access through the Internet. Both of these sources are available from many FTP hosts throughout
the Internet; the hosts listed are the definitive repositories for these documents, and will always have the most upto-date editions.
1. "Internet Accessible Library Catalogs & Databases," by Art St. George and Ron Larsen.
FTP Host:
Directory:
Files:
nic.cerf.net
cerfnet/cerfnet_info
internet-catalogs-08-91.txt
internet-catalogs-04-91_apl.ps
(text only)
(Apple PostScript)
Note that the filename contains the date the file was most recently updated. This may be different by the
time you FTP from this archive.
2) "University of North Texas' Accessing Online Bibliographic Databases," by Billy Barron.
FTP Host:
Directory:
vaxb.acs.unt.edu
library
Files:
libraries.ps
libraries.txt
libraries.wp
(this directory contains many other
useful files on OPACs)
(PostScript version)
(ASCII, text only version)
(Word Perfect 5.0 version)
Run--do not walk--to your terminal, and FTP one or both of these essential resources.
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EFFECTIVE USE OF ONLINE-CATALOGS (OR, "HOW TO THINK LIKE AN OPAC")
If you've never used the card catalog of a large library, you're in for a big surprise. Searches through OPACs can
yield hundreds or even thousands of citations for what you might think are highly specialized topics. Searches for
individual authors tend to yield manageable results. But subject searches, especially if the subject is not chosen
carefully, may deposit many screen-fulls of information to your terminal.
For example, most American OPACs use Library of Congress Subject Headings which are very precise and highly
structured. Subject headings which are intuitively sensible to you may not yield ANY search results, if they do
not correspond precisely to an entry in the OPAC's list of subject headings. Although some OPACs will display
available subjects on your terminal, it is sometimes useful to consult the "Library of Congress Subject Headings"
book before beginning a large scale OPAC search. This reference is available at most libraries. There is also a
"Medical Subject Headings" volume useful for services like Medline.
There are a number of things to keep in mind which will make it easier to find what you're looking for when using
an OPAC.
❏
❏
❏
❏
Start with a very specific search.
Use special search tools, such as the logical operators AND, OR, and NOT, or wildcard symbols, if
they are available.
When you find an entry which seems to be very close to what you need, examine its subject, title,
author, and keyword fields. This can help you narrow or broaden your search, and may lead you to
other appropriate entries by suggesting search terms you might not have considered ahead of time.
If one OPAC doesn't give you the reference(s) you want, try another, or consult the Barron or St.
George list to see if a particular OPAC is very strong in the subject you are researching.
GETTING STARTED WITH INTERNET ACCESS OF OPACS
Here is a list of a few Internet accessible OPACs in the United States and Canada to try out.
Internet Address
Institutional Affiliation
Login Information
bootes.unm.edu
bull.utulsa.edu
cts.merit.edu
develnet.ucalgary.ca
melvyl.ucop.edu
nls.adp.wisc.edu
pac.carl.org
University of New Mexico
University of Tulsa
University of Michigan
University of Calgary
University of California
University of Wisconsin
Colorado Alliance of
Research Libraries
login: STUDENT1
login: LIAS,TU
none
Request: library
none
none
none
There are hundreds of other OPACs available, so don't make these your default sites. If you decide you are going
to use OPACs for teaching or research, be sure to get a copy of either or both the Barron or St. George/Larsen
catalogs so you can learn about other OPACs that may be closer geographically and in areas of specialization.
A Sample OPAC Session
There are many different software packages for OPACs. To further complicate matters, some of the most widely
used packages can be modified heavily by particular sites, and some sites use home grown packages which may
have very peculiar features and behaviors, especially when used from remote locations via TELNET.
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However, there are enough similarities between OPACs that a sample session from one should give you a fair
indication of what using most other OPACs is like.
This section presents a session using the University of California's MELVYL System. Note that this session has
been edited slightly to make it easier to read on a page.
This session illustrates the essential steps you'd want to take when using most any OPAC:
Step 1. TELNET to the OPAC of your choice. For OPACs using IBM based systems, use a TELNET capable of
3270 emulation (e.g. tn3270).
Step 2. Enter a terminal type. (vt100 is usually a safe bet.)
Step 3. Use online help. (Repeat as necessary.)
Step 4. Select a database within the OPAC.
Step 5. Select the degree of prompting you want from the system while doing your search (e.g., be led by the
hand, or plow right through.)
Step 6. Select a search type (typically, Author, Subject, Title).
Step 7. Enter a value for the search. (NOTE: Steps 6 and 7 are often a single step in other OPACS, e.g.,
"SU=ENDANGERED SPECIES.")
Step 8. If necessary, redefine and/or refine your search.
Step 9. Repeat steps 3-9, in any order, for additional searches.
Step 10. Logoff and end your TELNET session.
Throughout the session, lines on which the user is prompted by the OPAC begin with a "U>". Words printed by
the OPAC on the prompt line are in all uppercase. Responses typed by the user appear in lower case. As always,
<RETURN> means press the RETURN key on your keyboard (or, in some cases, the ENTER key).
Note that this OPAC session is rather long - intentionally.
It would have been easy to present a quick and easy session which immediately produced references to thousands
of citations. But as you probably know from your experience with regular card catalogs, effective use of a library
system often requires careful consideration and reconsideration of how to define your literature search.
This OPAC session is meant to reflect this reality: the first search in this example yields no results, but by
modifying the search slightly, and following suggestions from MELVYL, a very similar search yields more than
500 citations!
Step 1. TELNET to the OPAC.
To get started, TELNET into MELVYL, and then you will be prompted to provide some information about the
computer from which you are working.
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U> telnet melvyl.ucop.edu
22:13:22 Type START and press RETURN key to begin session
U> <RETURN>
Please Enter Your Terminal Type Code or Type HELP for a List of Codes.
U> TERMINAL? help
Please enter the Terminal Type Code for your terminal.
Supported Terminal Types and their character codes are:
CODE
TERMINAL
CODE
TERMINAL
TTY33
ESPRIT
PE1100
HARDCOPY
IBMPC
KERMIT
ACT5A
HP2621
TI700
TELE920
TANDEM
Teletype 33 (TTY)
Hazeltine Esprit
Perkin Elmer 1100
Decwriter/Gencom
IBM Personal Computer
KERMIT Emulation
Microterm Act5a
Hewlett Packard HP2621
TI Silent 700
Televideo 910, 912, 920
Tandem 635X
BANTAM
ADM3A
HAZ1500
HAZ2000
HEATH
VT100
ADDS
BITGRAPH
TTY40
DISPLAY
OTHER
Perkin Elmer Bantam
ADM 3a
Hazeltine 1500
Hazeltine 2000
Heathkit H19
Dec VT100
ADDS/NCR
BBN Bitgraph
Teletype 40 (TTY)
IBM Displaywriter
All Others
Please Enter Your Terminal Type Code or Type HELP for List of Codes.
Step 2. Enter a terminal code.
"Terminal type" does not mean "is your computer a Macintosh or an IBM mainframe?" but rather "what kind of
terminal can your computer 'emulate'?" Any particular computer can, depending upon installed software, emulate
one or more terminal types.
With some TELNET services, you can ask for a display of the terminal types supported by that particular service.
The list displayed by MELVYL includes VT100, a kind of "full screen" terminal emulation very frequently
included in personal computer and mainframe telecommunication software packages.
If you're not sure what kind of terminal emulation your computer is using, many OPACs and other TELNET
services allow you to use a "dumb" terminal type which performs the most basic "teletype" functions. In
MELVYL, the dumb terminal type is called "other," which is what we'll use for this sample session.
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U> TERMINAL? Other
Press RETURN for the MELVYL Catalog U
U> <RETURN>
Welcome to the University of California's
MELVYL* LIBRARY SYSTEM
(c)1984. *Registered trademark of The Regents of the University
of California.
OPTIONS: Choose an option, or type any command to enter the CATALOG database.
HELP
[return]
START <db>
For help in getting started.
Press RETURN to choose a database for searching.
Type START <database name> to search a database.
Step 3. Investigate the online help.
Notice that at the end of step 2, MELVYL offered help in getting started. You can save a great deal of time and
make better use of online resources if you investigate any help that might be offered. In MELVYL, the "help"
command can be used to display what options are available at certain points during your session.
U> help
The options for proceeding are:
[return]
START <db>
Any command
Press RETURN to see the list of MELVYL system databases.
You may then choose a database to search.
If you already know the name of the database you want to search, type
START and the database name, e.g., START CC.
By typing any other valid command, e.g., FIND or EXPLAIN, you will
enter the CATALOG database.
U> <RETURN>
In the last screen we've pressed the RETURN key which yields a display of MELVYL catalogs.
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MELVYL SYSTEM DATABASES
Select one database from the list below.
Library Databases:
TEN
CAT
PE
For faster searches, type TEN;
Ten-Year MELVYL Catalog; materials published from 1981-1991.
Full MELVYL Catalog - UC libraries and California State Library.
Periodical Titles - Calif. Academic Libraries List of Serials.
Journal Article Indexes: (for UC users only; password may be needed)
CC
CCT
MED
CURRENT CONTENTS
CURRENT CONTENTS
MELVYL MEDLINE
current articles in all subject areas.
journal tables of contents in all subjects.
articles in medical and life sciences.
Other Systems:
OTHER
To select other library catalogs and remote information systems.
Shortcut:
type any command to enter the CAT database (e.g., FIND or EXPLAIN)
Type the code for one option (e.g., TEN), HELP, or END to end your session.
Step 4. Select a database within the OPAC.
For this session, we'll use the MELVYL Ten-Year database, which only includes materials published in the last 10
years. Notice that MELVYL's holdings for this brief period includes more than 1.5 million distinct titles!
U> start ten
Command being issued: START TEN
Welcome to the MELVYL TEN-YEAR Catalog Database
Contents:
Coverage:
OPTIONS:
HELP
COMMAND
LOOKUP
START
END
As of 9/8/91, approximately 1,580,596 titles representing 3,578,900
holdings, for materials in the University of California libraries,
and the California State Library,
Publication dates 1981 through 1991.
Type an option and press RETURN, or type any command.
For help in getting started.
To use commands and for periodicals; use any time.
For Lookup Mode--the system leads you through commands.
To start over or change databases.
To end your session.
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Step 5. Select what degree of prompting you want from the system.
Many interactive Internet services allow you to tailor sessions to your level of expertise, ranging from step-by-step
help for new users, to a nearly blank screen for expert users. The information presented in the previous screen
indicates that one can type "lookup" for extensive prompting.
U> TEN -> lookup
Welcome to Lookup Mode in the TEN-YEAR Catalog Database
You can start searching without learning the command language by following the prompts
below. You will see the appropriate commands used for your search.
At any time, you can also type:
SET MODE COMMAND
START CAT
END
to change to Command Mode.
to change to the full CATALOG database.
to end your session.
Press RETURN to begin.
U> TEN -> <return>
Now let's go back to the Ten-Year catalog, and continue with step-by-step help.
In Lookup Mode, you can search for books at the following libraries:
Code
ALL
UCB
MOF
UCD
UCI
UCLA
COL
UCR
UCSD
SDU
UCSF
UCSB
UCSC
Library
All libraries in MELVYL
Berkeley; includes MOF,
UCB Moffitt Undergrad. Lib.
Davis and UCD NRLF
Irvine and UCI SRLF
Los Angeles; includes COL
UCLA College Undergrad. Lib.
Riverside
San Diego; includes SDU
San Diego Undergrad. Lib.
San Francisco and UCSF NRLF
Santa Barbara
Santa Cruz and UCSC NRLF
Code
CAS
CRL
CSL
HAS
LBL
LAW
MED
NOR
SOU
UC
Library
California Academy of Sci.
Center for Res. Libraries
California St. Lib.; incl.
Sutro Lib., S.F., CSL NRLF
Hastings Law Library
Lawrence Berkeley Lab
UC Law: UCB UCD UCLA HAS
UC Med. libraries.: UCD
UCI, UCLA,UCSD, UCSF
North UC libs.: UCB, UCD,
UCSC, UCSF, HAS, LBL
South UC libs.: UCI, UCLA,
UCR, UCSB, UCSD
All, except CAS CRL CSL
Type the code for your library or type ALL for all libraries in the catalog, then press
RETURN. You can type up to 4 codes. Type HELP for more information.
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We've been asked which library we want to use; in this sample session, we'll search through all of the University
of California libraries.
U > TEN -> all
Welcome to Lookup mode.
You can search for books by:
-the name of the person who wrote the book
-by the title of the book
-or by the Subject headings assigned to the book
Type
PA
SU
TI
HELP
END
(Personal Author)
(Title)
(Subject)
for one of the following choices:
Personal Author search
Subject search
Title search
More information on choices
End your session.
Step 6. Select a search type.
Now we'll indicate that we want to search through the catalog by subjects (type "su"):
U> TEN -> su
Type SUBJECT heading words, or type HELP, then press RETURN.
U> TEN -> help
You have selected the SU index.
A subject may be a topic, a geographic place, or a person.
Ask a reference librarian for "Library of Congress Subject Headings" or for "Medical Subject
Headings," to help identify an official heading to use in your subject search request.
Try to be as specific as possible; otherwise you will retrieve more books than you can look at
easily. For example, typing the words MARINE BIOLOGY PACIFIC OCEAN is more
specific than typing BIOLOGY.
If you do not find the books you want, try repeating your search as a title search or ask a
librarian for assistance.
Type SUBJECT heading words, then press RETURN.
Step 7. Enter a value for the search.
Now we can enter a subject; let's try "extinction of species" which we'll abbreviate as "extinction species":
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U> TEN -> extinction species
Command being processed: FIND SU EXTINCTION SPECIES
Search request: FIND SU EXTINCTION SPECIES
Search result: 0 records in the TEN-YEAR Catalog database
Please type HELP for information on zero search results.
Since your Subject search had zero results, you might want to try your search again as a Title
Word (TW) search using 2 or 3 significant words. Please type HELP for more information on
zero results.
Type choice, or type END to end session:
TW
TI
Title Word search
New Title search
PA
SU
New Personal Author search
New Subject search
Or type START CAT LOOK to leave the TEN-YEAR database and try your search in the full
CATALOG database.
U> TEN -> tw
No books were found with a request using "extinction species" as our subject. But don't give up yet! MELVYL
now allows the option of doing another search by several other fields, including the words in the book's titles
(TW). Let's try another search, looking for books which have the words "species" and "extinction" in their titles:
Type 2 or 3 important words from the TITLE of the book you want, or type HELP, then press
RETURN.
U> TEN -> extinction species
Command being processed: FIND TW EXTINCTION SPECIES
The search string "extinction species," which did not find anything during a subject search, locates 13 relevant
titles with a Title Word search.
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Search request: FIND TW EXTINCTION SPECIES
Search result: 13 records in the TEN-YEAR Catalog database
1. Balancing on the brink of extinction : the Endangered Species Act and lessons for the
future / edited by Kathryn A. Kohm.
Washington, D.C. : Island Press, c1991.
UCB
BioSci
KF5640
UCD
Main Lib
KF5640
UCI
Main Lib
KF5640
UCSC
McHenry
KF5640
UCSD
Scripps
KF5640 .B35 1991
CAS
Mailliard
KF5640
.B35
.B35
.B35
B35
Floor 3
.B35
1991
1991
1991
1991
1991
Type choice, or type HELP for help, END to end session:
NS
SHO
LON
REV
Next screen of Short display
Different records in Short
Long display
Review display
PA
SU
TI
New Personal Author search
New Subject search
New Title search
U> TEN -> ns
You can keep browsing through this short display by typing "ns".
Search request: FIND TW EXTINCTION SPECIES
Search result: 13 records in the TEN-YEAR Catalog database
2. Cohn, Jeffrey P.
The politics of extinction : [endangered species] / by Jeffrey P. Cohn.
IN: Government executive. Vol. 22, no. 10 (Oct. 1990)
UCB
IGS
R.R.
Type choice, or type HELP for help, END to end session:
NS
SHO
LON
REV
Next screen of Short display
Different records in Short
Long display
Review display
PA
SU
TI
New Personal Author search
New Subject search
New Title search
U> TEN -> rev
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Alternatively, MELVYL allows us to review all of the titles retrieved by our search request. When we type "rev";
the display looks like this:
1. Balancing on the brink of extinction : the Endangered .... 1991
2. COHN, Jeffrey P.
The politics of extinctio ... 1990
3. EHRLICH, Paul R.
Extinction : the causes a ... 1981
4. EHRLICH, Paul R
Extinction : the causes a ... 1983
5. KELLY, Donald M.
Near extinction : Califor ... 1990
6. LABASTILLE, Anne.
Mama Poc : an ecologist's ... 1990
7. MYERS, Norman.
Tackling mass extinction ... 1986
8. The Road to extinction : problems of categorizing the .. 1987
9. The Road to extinction : problems of categorizing the ...1987
10. Australia's endangered species : the extinction dilemma. 1990
11. AUSTRALIA. Endangered Species Advisory Committee.
An Australian national strategy for the conservatio...1989
Type the numbers of the records you want to see in a LONG display, or type HELP.
To see all the records, simply press RETURN.
U> TEN -> 1
Now let's ask for a "LONG" display of item number 1 to see if it provides any clues about how we might refine
the search.
Search request: FIND TITLE WORDS EXTINCTION SPECIES
Search result: 11 records in the TEN-YEAR Catalog database
1.
Title:
Description:
Notes:
Subjects:
Other entries:
Balancing on the brink of extinction : the Endangered Species Act and
lessons for the future / edited by Kathryn A. Kohm. Washington, D.C.
:Island Press, 1991.
xi, 318 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Endangered species -- Law and legislation -- United States.
Kohm, Kathryn A.
(Record 1 continues on the next screen.)
Type choice, or type HELP for help, END to end session:
NS
SHO
LON
REV
Next screen of Short display
Different records in Short
Long display
Review display
PA
SU
TI
New Personal Author search
New Subject search
New Title search
As you can see by looking at the subject line, this book is cataloged under the subject "endangered species."
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Step 8. Redefine and/or refine your search.
Judging by the other titles in the list in Step 7, it appears that a subject search for "endangered species" will very
likely be fruitful.
U> TEN -> su endangered species
Search request: FIND SU ENDANGERED SPECIES
Search result: 520 records in the TEN-YEAR Catalog database
1. 1986 IUCN red list of threatened animals. 1986
2. 1988 IUCN red list of threatened animals. 1988
3. AAZPA manual of Federal wildlife regulations. 1985
4. Action plan for African primate conservation: 1986-90. 1985
5. ADAMS, Douglas, 1952Last chance to see. 1991
6. Alaska wildlife week unit : wildlife for the future. End... 1985
7. ALLEN, William B. 1928State lists of endangere... 1988
8. ANCONA, George.
Turtle watch. 1987
9. The Animal finders' directory. 1985
10. Animal genetic resources : a global programme for sustai... 1990
11. Animals and plants listed as threatened (T) or endangere... 1988
12. ARNOLD, Richard A.
Distribution, life histo... 1981
13. ARNOLD, Richard A. 1950Delta green gr (Elaphrus... 1985
...(followed by 507 more titles!)
MELVYL responds with 520 titles!
Step 9. Repeat steps 3-8, in any order, for additional searches
This is where the real power of using an OPAC starts; now that you've established a profitable search strategy and
have some references upon which to base further searches, you can branch off to other related subject or title
searches very easily.
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Step 10. End your OPAC and TELNET sessions.
To leave MELVYL, type end:
U> TEN -> end
Thanks for using the MELVYL Online Catalog.
Type LOGOFF and press RETURN to terminate your TELNET session.
Press RETURN for the MELVYL catalog.
U> logoff
ELAPSED TIME = 0:11:53
END OF SESSION
Connection closed by foreign host.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OPACS AND RELATED TOPICS
Essential Documents For Using OPACs
"Library Resources on the Internet: Strategies for Selection and Use"
FTP Host:
Directory:
Filename:
dla.ucop.edu
pub/internet
libcat-guide
"Internet Accessible Library Catalogs & Databases," by Art St. George and Ron Larsen.
FTP Host:
Directory:
Files:
cerf.net.edu
cerfnet/cerf_net/
internet-catalogs-08-91.txt
internet-catalogs-04-91_apl.ps
(text only)
(apple.PostScript)
Note that the filename contains the date the file was most recently updated.
"OPACs in the UK: A list of interactive catalogues on JANET compiled for the Janet User Group for Libraries"
FTP Host:
Directory:
Files:
vaxb.acs.unt.edu
library
uk.lib
(ASCII text)
"University of North Texas' Accessing Online Bibliographic Databases," by Billy Barron.
FTP Host:
Directory:
vaxb.acs.unt.edu
library
Files:
libraries.ps
libraries.txt
libraries.wp
(this directory contains many other
useful files on OPACs)
(PostScript version)
(ASCII, text only version)
(Word Perfect 5.0 version)
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Online Discussion Groups and Mailing Lists
1. As of September, 1991, there are at least 60 online discussion groups dealing with OPACs and related issues of
information sciences. They range in coverage from discussion of a specific site's OPAC installations, to general
discussion of present and future OPAC technology.
A comprehensive and up-to-date list of these groups is included in the "Directory of Scholarly Electronic
Conferences," by Diane K. Kovacs of Kent State University, available via FTP:
FTP Host:
Directory:
Files:
ksuvxa.kent.edu
files are all in root directory, no need to cd
ACADLIST.FILE1
ACADLIST.FILE2
ACADLIST.FILE3
ACADLIST.FILE4
ACADLIST.FILE5
ACADLIST.FILE6
ACADLIST.INDEX
ACADLIST.README.
As of September 1991, the "Libraries and Information Sciences" entries of the list are in the file
ACADLIST.FILE2. However, you might as well get all 8 files; this is a tremendous resource, with information
from many separate places put together in one large document in an easy to use structure.
2. NNSC Internet Resource Guide, "Chapter 2: Library Catalogs." As of September, 1991, about 30 libraries and
library systems are described. Although these entries are largely rendered obsolete by the Barron and St. George
/Larsen catalogs, they are still useful sometimes for supplemental information.
For all of Chapter 2:
FTP Host:
Directory:
Files:
nnsc.nsf.net
resource-guide
chapter2-ps.tar.Z
chapter2-txt.tar.Z
(compressed and tarred PostScript)
(compressed and tarred ASCII text)
To obtain individual sections of Chapter 2, first FTP the Chapter 2 table of contents, and then FTP individual
sections as desired:
FTP Host:
Directory:
Files:
nnsc.nsf.net
resource-guide/chapter.2
intro.ps
intro.txt
section2-1.ps
section2-1.txt
(etc.)
(PostScript table of contents)
(ASCII text table of contents)
(PostScript of section 2.1)
(ASCII text of section 2.1)
(etc.)
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Chapter 12: Internet Accessible Databases and
Bibliographies
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THIS CHAPTER
This document gives information on how to access many of the computers on the Internet which contain large
databases.
Of course, most computers contains large amounts of data. But in this chapter, databases are defined as "any
highly structured repository of information whose contents you can access for your own analyses."
This chapter is organized by major topics, so you can quickly and easily identify sources useful to your purposes.
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED HERE, AND WHERE TO FIND IT
❏ Online "White Pages" and "Yellow Pages" services which allow you to find individuals and
organizations on the Internet are not included. Detailed descriptions of such services can be found in
Chapter 14, "Internet Directory Services."
❏ Databases and information services which require special accounts on private computers, cost money
to use, or can be purchased for local use are not included. Exceptions include a few "for fee"
databases, in areas where free databases are not yet readily accessible.
❏ Many universities are currently implementing campus-wide information services. Although these
information services are often treated as databases, they are usually used as directory services.
❏ In most of the NUSIRG, you have been provided with sample scripts to provide assistance or
instruction in using a particular kind of resource. When there were a number of styles of user
interface, our description focused on either a generic or common example. Unfortunately, there is
such a tremendous variety of interfaces for these databases that a sample session would be of little
value.
DATABASES OF DATABASES
It is possible that the Babel of databases interfaces will be rendered accessible through "databases of databases."
In particular the Wide Area Information Service (WAIS) being developed by Thinking Machines Incorporated,
has a great deal of promise for making a wide variety of Internet information services accessible through a single,
easy-to-use interface. See Chapter 13 for more information about WAIS.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO USE INTERNET DATABASES
❏
❏
A computer connected to the Internet; and
An understanding of:
❏ e-mail: to send mail to Mailservers which will automatically mail help files, documents,
or datasets;
❏ FTP: to access "file archives," and copy files to your own account;
❏ TELNET: to login into computers and run programs, search databases, and run
simulations which could not be done on your own local computer.
Read the appropriate chapter(s) from NUSIRG, or any other source of Internet information if any of these terms
are unfamiliar to you.
ORGANIZATION OF THE CHAPTER
The entries in this chapter are organized by the following major subject categories:
Multi-Disciplinary Databases
Aeronautical Navigation
Agriculture
Area Studies
Artificial Intelligence
Astronomy / Space Science
Census (US)
Chemistry
Computer Science
Computer Software
Ecology and Environment
Education
Genetics and Molecular Biology
Geography
Government and Politics
Grants and Contracts
History
Mathematics
Music
Physics
Statistics
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ORGANIZATION OF THE ENTRIES
Each entry is coded in the following format (although not all entries contain every field):
Official Acronym and Full Official Name of Database
Audience:
An estimation of who would most likely benefit from the database. Although most of these
databases are not restricted in their access, not everybody would be able to use some data sets
which are very large or require sophisticated processing or software.
Contents:
A brief description of contents relevant to the purposes of this chapter. Please note that many of
these sources contain information above and beyond what is mentioned in this contents field.
Comments:
Additional things that you should know.
Access:
How to access the database via TELNET, FTP, mail-server, telephone, or postal mail.
Contact:
Official contact information if you have further questions
[email protected]
name
postal mail address
telephone number
More Info:
Pointers to official or more detailed descriptions, publications, online discussion groups, and
other useful information.
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Multi-Disciplinary Databases
CULDAT--Canadian Union List of Machine Readable Data Files
Audience:
Contents:
Anyone
Bibliographic and descriptive information about computer readable data files held by Canadian
academic and governmental data libraries and archives. There are currently 1,417 databases
accessible. Sources of databases searched in a CULDAT session include:
CUSSDA:
NAC:
STC:
UADL:
UBCDL:
UMISE:
UWOSS:
WATLS:
YUISR:
Access:
Carleton University, Social Science Data Archive.
National Archives of Canada.
Statistics Canada.
University of Alberta, Data Library.
University of British Columbia, Data Library.
University of Manitoba, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
University of Western Ontario, Social Science Computing Laboratory.
University of Waterloo, Leisure Studies Data Bank.
York University, Institute for Social Research.
Via Mailserver, which accepts Remote Spires (RMSPIRES) commands. Useful RMSPIRES
commands to get you started include explain, find, browse, and display. For example:
To get an overview of how to use CULDAT:
mail:
subject:
message:
rmspires%[email protected]
(none needed)
explain culdat
To get an overview of the subjects covered by CULDAT datasets:
mail:
subject:
message:
rmspires%[email protected]
(none needed)
browse subject
Contact: [email protected]
Anna Bombak, Data Librarian
352 General Services Building
University Computing Systems
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H1
(403) 492-5212
National Archives Center for Electronic Records
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Comments:
Anyone.
An archive of 10,000 datasets, with an emphasis on U.S. Government datasets. Particularly
strong in health, demographic, and social science datasets.
Currently, one must order copies of datasets on magnetic tape.
By time you read this, it may be possible to obtain some or all of these datasets on floppy disks
or via FTP or mail-servers. Contact CER for an update.
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123
For more information, or a free list of 4,000 Title List of Holdings
Ted Hull
[email protected].
The Center for Electronic Records
Archives and Records Administration
Washington, DC 20408
(202) 501-5579
More Info:
There is a LISTSERV group called the "Federal Electronic Data Special Interest Group:"
[email protected]@punfs.princeton.edu
Free-Net
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Anyone
Many informative files on health, education, politics, recreation, technology, etc.
Free-Net is best described as an "open access community electronic information system" which,
for registered users, also allows easy access to discussion groups including USENET. Free-Net
uses a novel interface in which the user wanders through an "electronic city." Files are in
"buildings," so for example, to get information on politics and government, one would enter the
"City Hall." A rather extraordinary open access system which could be set up at other sites at
very little cost. There are currently five sites using the Free-Net software, all in the midwestern United States, but many more are being established around the world as part of a notfor-profit cooperative network called "The National Public Telecommunications Network"
(NPTN). When you first log in, you will be asked if you want to visit or register. Follow the
instructions. As a visitor, your privileges in Free Net are restricted. If you register, you will be
sent a registration packet through the mail, which you must fill out and return.
Access:
TELNET to:
freenet-in-a.cwru.edu
freenet-in-b.cwru.edu
freenet-in-c.cwru.edu
yfn.ysu.edu
tso.uc.edu
heartland.bradley.edu
(Cleveland)
(Youngstown, OH)
(Cincinnati, OH)
(Peoria, IL)
Contact: e-mail: [email protected]
T.M. Grundner, Ed.D
President, NPTN
Box 1987
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
(216) 368-2733
University of Maryland Info Database
Audience:
Contents:
Anyone.
Data and files on the following topics: Computers, Economics, Literature, Political Science,
Meteorology, Area Studies, Electronic Journals.
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124
Comments:
Files can be viewed online while using a menu driven TELNET session, or they can be copies
locally by FTP. Although you can transfer files from within the interactive system, you are
probably better off noting which files you want, and then copying from the FTP host.
Access:
For interactive sessions (highly recommended for browsing).
TELNET:
User Name:
info.umd.edu
INFO
FTP Host:
directory:
info.umd.edu
info
Aeronautical Navigation
NOAA Aeronautical Charting Data Sampler II
Audience:
Contents:
Anyone, but the files are huge, and require extensive handling. Not recommended for trivial
purposes.
HUGE files containing data on the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Comments:
Access:
Aeronautical Chart Automation Section (ACAS) data files (containing data on 17,000
airports, 21,000 runways, 46,000 obstructions to air navigation, navigational aid data,
and ARTCC data for low and high air routes);
COMPSYS Distance and Bearing Software (used by National Airspace System for
computing reporting points, intersections, and other fixes);
Special Use Airspace Data Files (used to inform pilots of restricted and prohibited
airspace);
Advanced Automation System (AAS) Data.
NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION! For learning only. For MS/DOS computers only.
Requires at least 120 Mb hard drive. These data, and the associated programs are from a CDROM. If you have a CD-ROM reader, you are probably better off obtaining the CD than using
the FTP'able data.
Accessible by FTP.
FTP Host:
Directory:
Files:
Contact:
hobbes.ksu.ksu.edu
pub/noaa
instal.bat
data/*.*.*
noaa/*.*.*
instal/*.*
(a DOS batch file for installation
(10Mb compressed 62Mb uncompressed
(12Mb compressed 36Mb uncompressed
(1Mb)
This contact information is for the CD-ROM, not the FTP'able dataset.
CD-ROM Project Director, Requirements & Technology Staff
NOAA, National Ocean Service
6010 Executive Blvd., Room 1022, N/CG3x22
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 443-8323
More Info:
FTP Host:
hobbes.ksu.ksu.edu
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File:
125
pub/noaa
readme.doc
Agriculture
PENpages
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Online articles and brochures on agriculture, careers, health, consumer issues, weather, from The
Pennsylvania State Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania State University College of
Agriculture, and Rutgers University.
Highly accessible, general information. Not a research oriented service; vt100 terminal
emulation recommended.
Accessible by TELNET
TELNET:
Login:
psupen.psu.edu
PNOTPA
Contact: e-mail: [email protected]
Art Hussey, Assistant Director
Computer Services
Office of Administrative Services
The Pennsylvania State University
405 Agricultural Administration Building
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 863-3449
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.14
PENpages User Guide:
online, or request from above address.
Area Studies
INFO-SOUTH Latin American Information System
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Anyone but a subscription charge is required.
Very extensive listings of citations and abstracts on a wide variety of Latin America issues.
Accessible by TELNET:
TELNET:
Contact:
sabio.ir.miami.edu
e-mail: [email protected]
INFO-SOUTH Latin American Information System
Institute of Interamerican Studies / North-South Center
Graduate School of International Studies
PO Box 248014
Coral Gables, FL 33124-3211
tel:
(305) 284-4414
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.22
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126
Latin American Data Base (LADB)
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Contact:
Anyone interested in accessing current information originating directly from Latin America.
11,000 articles from 1987 to the present organized under the following titles: "Chronicle of
Latin American Economic Affairs," "Central America Update," and "SOURCEMEX--Economic
News and Analysis on Mexico." Hundreds of new articles added each month.
You must contact LADB (see below) to arrange access.
Once you have contacted the LADB, you can access LADB through the Internet or by a modem
call to an 800 number.
To establish access, contact:
Roma Arellano
[email protected]
Latin American Institute
University of New Mexico
801 Yale NE
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1016
(505) 277-6839
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.26.
There is a special LISTSERV list devoted to discussion about this database:
[email protected]%umrvmb.umr.edu
Artificial Intelligence
Bibliographic Mailserver for Artificial Intelligence Literature
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Researchers in Artificial Intelligence.
Bibliographies of artificial intelligence literature, currently containing more than 20,000
references.
Most appropriate for researchers already very familiar with Artificial Intelligence. This data set
is not well-suited for casual browsing.
Via a mailserver. The host machine is in Germany, so if your primary language is English, you
need to specify that output be sent to you in English.
Mailserver:
Subject:
Contact:
[email protected]
lidosearch info english
[email protected]
Dr. Alfred Kobsa
Department of Information Science
University of Konstanz
D-W-7750 Konstanz 1 Germany
tel:
(+49) 7531 88 1
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.29
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127
University of California at Irvine Repository Of Machine Learning Databases and Domain Theories
Contents:
Contents:
Access:
Contact:
75 databases and domain theories useful for evaluating learning algorithms. The dataset files are
divided into two parts: filename.data (which contains raw data), and filename.names, which
contains documentation about the dataset file. Some of the files in the archive are not datasets,
but rather generate datasets.
All files can be freely copied to your own computer for use.
Accessible by FTP and an e-mail server.
FTP Host:
directory:
ics.uci.edu
pub/machine-learning-databases
mail:
subject:
message:
[email protected]
(none needed)
help
[email protected]
[email protected]
Astronomy / Space Science
Astronomers
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Professional Astronomers.
Contact information for astronomers and astronomical facilities around the world
Not to be used for trivial or commercial purposes.
Send an e-mail request for this guide to:
[email protected]
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NED--NASA / IPAC Extragalactic Database
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Extensive information on 132,000 extragalactic objects (galaxies, quasars, infrared and radio
sources), and software to search raw data and associated bibliographies.
Includes an online tutorial. Much of the software and some of the data are available for local
use from the FTP host (see More Info)
Accessible through TELNET.
TELNET:
login:
Contact:
ipac.caltech.edu
ned
[email protected]
NED c/o IPAC
MS 100-22
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125
(818) 584-2903
More Info:
Extensive online help.
FTP Host:
files:
ipac.caltech.edu
README files in various directories
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.21
NSSDC--National Space Science Data Center
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Official clearinghouse for NASA data, containing a directory of publicly available data.
Datasets referenced by this service include: Global change datasets; Nimbus-7 GRID TOMS
data; Interplanetary Medium Data (OMN); Geophysical Models; International Ultraviolet
Explorer Data; Voyager and other planetary images; Earth observation data; Star catalogs. The
TELNET front end also allows access to the Standards and Technology Information System,
back issues of CANOPUS newsletters, etc.
Although the data must be purchased (on CD-ROM, diskette, or magnetic tape) the prices are
not high considering the amount and quality of data available (for example, a set 8 CDs of
Voyager images is $ 75). You can set up an official account with user-id and password if you
plan to use NODIS more than once.
Accessible through TELNET.
TELNET:
login:
Contact:
nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
nodis
[email protected]
National Space Science Data Center
Request Coordination Office
Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 633
Greenbelt, MD 20771
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(301) 286-6695
SDDAS--Southwest Research Data Display and Analysis System
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone doing research in space, magnetosphere or upper atmospheric physics.
Data from upper atmosphere collected from a number of satellites (currently, Dynamic Explorers
1 and 2, UARS Partial Environment Monitor, and TSS-1 ROPE).
Although anyone can "take it for a spin," real use requires authorization from the contact person
listed below. The service is menu driven and easy to use. If you are using certain graphics
terminals, this service allows you to view many of the datasets in sophisticated graphical
displays.
Accessible through TELNET.
TELNET:
Contact:
espsun.space.swri.edu 540
[email protected]
Dr. J.D. Winningham
Southwest Research Institute
Division of Instrumentation and Space Sciences
P.O. Drawer 28510
San Antonio, TX 78228-0510
(512) 522-3259
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.7
Online, menu driven help
User's Guide mailed to authorized users
Detailed listing of data holdings can be requested from:
[email protected]
SIMBAD--Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Contact:
Astronomers with NASA or NSF contracts.
Data and bibliographic entries for stars and subsets of non-stellar objects
This service may become available via a CREN mail server in the near future, which is why it is
included in this general listing.
Accessible through TELNET, but one must have an account.
[email protected]
SIMBAD c/o Computation Facility
Smithsonian Astrophysical Laboratory
60 Garden St., MS 39
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-7301
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.5
SPACELINK
Audience:
Anyone.
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Access:
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Database and interactive system containing information about NASA and NASA activities. A
large number of possible curricular activities for elementary and secondary science classes.
A tremendously valuable resource for elementary and secondary science teachers. Very easy to
use. In your first TELNET session, you will be prompted to create a unique user-id and
password for subsequent sessions. Files of interest can be downloaded either during an
interactive TELNET session, or by accessing the FTP file archives.
Accessible by TELNET and FTP.
TELNET:
user-id:
password:
128.158.13.250
newuser
newuser
FTP Host:
directory:
ames.arc.nasa.gov
pub/SPACE/SPACELINK
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
ames.arc.nasa.gov
pub/SPACE/SPACELINK
Spacelink.index
More Info:
Yale Bright Star Catalog
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Machine-readable version of the 4th Edition of the Yale Bright Star Catalog, including such
variables as photoelectric magnitudes, MK spectral types, parallaxed, and radial velocity
comments (indication and identification fo spectroscopic and occulation binaries), projected
rotational velocities, variability, spectral characteristics, duplicity, and group membership
These files are set up for MS-DOS microcomputers.
Accessible through FTP.
For a version usable with MS-DOS computers:
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
pomona.claremont.edu
yale_bsc
all files in the directory
For a version usable by Unix computers:
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
Contact:
More Info:
mandarin.mit.edu
astro/data.etc/yale.bright/starchart
all files
[email protected]
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
pomona.claremont.edu
yale_bsc
read.me
yaleread.me
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Census Data
Michigan Archives of 1990 Census of Population and Housing
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Michigan Census data includes summaries of summary tape files for states, counties, and places;
publication programs of all papers and electronic products from the 1990 U.S. Census; guides to
census questionnaires and geographic concepts used by the U.S. Census Bureau; guides to using
CD-ROM disks of the PL94-171 datasets.
This is a slightly unusual FTP host. To enter the Census directory, issue "cd lelf:" --be sure to
include the ":"! The basic FTP commands, such as "dir" and "get", will then work.
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Host:
directory
files:
Contact:
ub.cc.umich.edu
lelf:
all files in the directory
(be sure to include the ":"!)
[email protected]
Grace York
Documents Center
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
(313) 764-0410
More Info:
FTP Host:
files:
ub.cc.umich.edu
lelf:census
lelf:cenguide
(directory of available files)
(guide to census, etc.)
Chemistry
IuBIO--Indiana University Archive for Molecular and General Biology
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Chemistry software for DOS, MAC, etc.
Getting the document "Archive.doc" via FTP will make it easier for you to use this service.
Accessible through FTP
FTP Host:
Contact:
ftp.bio.indiana.edu
[email protected]
Don Gilbert
BioComputing Office
Biology Department
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.13.
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Files:
132
ftp.bio.indiana.edu
Archive.doc
Computer Software
General Information about Computer Software Databases
There are countless archives of computer software available through the Internet. This section is not meant to be
a comprehensive listing.
Computer Software (General Purpose Archives)
Washington University Public Domain Archives
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
An immense quantity of public domain and shareware software for the Amiga, Apple II, Atari,
CP/M, DOS, GNU, Macintosh, Sun, TeX, Unix, VAX/VMS, X Windows operating
environments. This server "mirrors" a number of other FTP hosts around the world. When
mirrored archives receive new information, it is sent also to WUARCHIVE. The archive also
contains files besides computer software, but software is its main strength.
A simple listing of just the filenames contained in this archive is over 7 megabytes in size. To
use this archive effectively, it is crucial that you get the README files for each directory whose
contents you want to explore. We recommend that you follow the suggestions provided in these
README files.
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Host:
Contact:
wuarchive.wustl.edu
[email protected]
Washington University
Office of the Network Coordinator
One Brookings Drive
Campus Box 1045
St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
COSMIC
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Contact:
U.S. citizens (with occasional exceptions).
Computer software for a wide variety of applications and operating systems created under
projects funded by NASA (thus the restriction to U.S. citizens). The COSMIC staff can also
perform searches through the COSMIC database to locate programs appropriate to your interests
and needs.
Most of the software must be purchased.
E-mail requests for information only.
[email protected]
COSMIC
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The University of Georgia
382 East Broad Street
Athens, GA 30602
(404) 542-3265
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.12.
Computer Software (Operating System Specific)
SUPERSFT--IBM Supercomputing Program Database
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Catalog of programs suitable for use on IBM supercomputers using vector or parallel processing.
The actual programs are not available through this service.
If you have written such programs, you can submit information about your program for inclusion
in the catalog.
Via a LISTSERVer, send e-mail to:
[email protected]
With one of the following in the body of the message:
get supersft help
get supersft index
get filename filetype
Contact:
(to get supersft help)
(for an index of files)
(to obtain a particular
(file of interest from
(the supersft index list)
[email protected]
Supercomputing Support Office
University of Illinois at Chicago
Computer Center (mail code 135)
Box 6998
Chicago, IL 60680
(312) 996-2981
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.8
VxWorks Users Group Archives
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Anyone using or interested in the VxWorks operating environment.
VxWorks programs and information.
Accessible through FTP and e-mail server.
FTP Host:
directories:
thor.atd.ucar.edu
pub/vx
pub/unix
Mailserver:
subject:
[email protected]
(none needed)
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Contact:
134
send index
[email protected]
Richard Neitzel
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Box 3000
Marshall Field Site
Boulder, CO 80307
(303) 497-2057 or (303) 497-2060
Ecology and Environment
General Information about Ecological and Environmental Databases
A new printed periodical called "The Green Library Journal: Environmental Topics in the Information World"
aims to disseminate information about environmental databases and international environmental information
centers. For more information about "The Green Library Journal," contact:
[email protected]
Maria Jankowska, Editor
Green Library Journal
University of Idaho Library
Moscow, Idaho, U.S.A. 83843-4198
(208) 885-6260
Fax: (208) 885-6817
CEAM--Center for Exposure Assessment Modeling
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Contact:
Anybody interested in environmental simulation models
Environmental simulation models for: urban and rural non-point sources, conventional and toxic
pollution of streams, lakes and estuaries, tidal hydrodynamics, geochemical equilibrium, and
aquatic food chain bioaccumulation.
CEAM is not on the Internet, yet, but might be by time you read this. All software is in the
public domain.
Modem calls to CEAM Bulletin Board Service: (404) 546-3402.
[email protected]
Jim Fuller
Center for Exposure Assessment Modeling
Environmental Research Laboratories
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Athens, GA 30613
Environmental Exchange
Audience:
Contents:
Anyone.
Database of environmental issues including air and water quality, land-use, energy, waste,
wildlife and environmental education programs.
Chapter 12: Internet Accessible Databases and Bibliographies
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Contact:
135
ECIX is supported by the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation and the Energy Foundation.
Contact Environmental Exchange for information.
[email protected]
The Environmental Exchange
1930 18th St. NW
Suite 24,
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 387-2182
Education
Online Database for Distance Education
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Information on education through computer networks.
Subscription charges may be levied as of 1992.
From the U.S., one must go through the Internet / Janet gateway TELNET server, so there are
considerably more prompts than you have encountered in within Internet TELNET. Note that
once you are at the hostname prompt, you have access to many other Janet resources as well.
TELNET:
login:
hostname:
User name:
Your name:
Inst.:
Contact:
sun.nsf.ac.uk
janet
uk.ac.open.acs.vax
ICDL
your name
your institutional affiliation
[email protected], or [email protected]
ICDL
c/o The Open University, Walton Hall
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
United Kingdom
tel:
(+44 908) 653537
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.28.
Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Information about Genetics and Molecular Biology Databases
If you intend to use any of the Genetics and Molecular Biology databases listed in this section, you are advised to
get the LiMB database to get an overview of what is available. Most, but not all, of the databases in this section
are described in LiMB, which is constantly kept up to date.
LiMB Database--Listing of Molecular Biology Databases
Audience:
Contents:
Anyone.
A Database of Molecular Biology Databases LiMB.
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136
The essential resource for anyone using, or thinking of using, Genetic and Molecular Biology
Databases. If you are creating such a database, these are the people to notify to be sure of broad
notification in the Molecular Biology community.
The LiMB database of databases can be obtained either by sending a mail request to an
electronic mail server, or by getting the file by FTP:
Electronic Mail Server requests:
mail:
subject:
message:
[email protected]
(none needed)
limb-data
FTP source (one of several)
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
Contact:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
repository/LiMB
limb
[email protected]
LiMB
T-10, Mail Stop k710
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM 87545
(505) 665-3493
More Info:
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
repository/LiMB
README
Bibliography of Theoretical Population Genetics
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
A comprehensive bibliographic listing of articles on theoretical population genetics.
The two letters at ends of filenames indicate the range of primary author's last names in citations
contained in each file; e.g., "bible.ac" contains references from authors whose names begin with
"Aa" to "Ce."
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
Contact:
evolution.genetics.washington.edu
bible
bible.ac
bible.cf
bible.fh
bible.hl
bible.lm
bible.mr
bible.rs
bible.sz
[email protected]
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Joe Felsenstein
Department of Genetics SK-50
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
ENZYME
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Contact:
Anyone.
Dictionary of 3072 enzymes; contains nomenclature, information about catalytic activity, cofactors, diseases associated with the enzyme. Cross references to the SWISS-PROT dataset.
Version 7.0 will be available November, 1991.
Accessible through FTP and e-mail server.
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
repository/ENZYME
enzyme.dat
enzyme.asn
Mailservers:
[email protected]
genbank.bio.net
[email protected]
Amos Bairoch
Medical Biochemistry Department
Centre Medical Universitaire
1211 Geneva 4
Switzerland
tel:
(+41 22) 61 84 92
More Info:
Users Guide.
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
ncbi.nlm.hnih.gov
repository/ENZYME
enzuser.txt
Gene-Server
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Molecular Biologists / Geneticists.
A huge number of software programs for molecular biologists and Geneticist, and several
databases including: GenBank; PIR protein sequences; R. Roberts Restriction Enzyme
Database; and Matrix of Biological Knowledge Archive Server files
Mail server:
mail:
subject:
message:
Contact:
[email protected]
(none needed)
send help
[email protected]
Dan Davison
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(713) 749-2801
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.1.
IuBIO--Indiana University Archive for Molecular and General Biology
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Molecular biology software for a variety of operating systems and data (particularly Drosophila
genetics).
Getting the document "Archive.doc" via FTP will make it easier for you to use this service.
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Host:
Contact:
ftp.bio.indiana.edu
[email protected]
Don Gilbert
BioComputing Office
Biology Department
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47405
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.13
FTP Host:
files:
ftp.bio.indiana.edu
Archive.doc
Johns Hopkins Genetic Databases
Audience:
Comments:
Contents:
Access:
Anyone.
You must register first with the contact person listed below for a user-id and password.
Online data from "Mendelian Inheritance in Man".
Accessible through TELNET.
TELNET:
welch.jhu.edu
Contact: [email protected]
GDB/OMIM User Support
William H. Welch Medical Library
1830 E. Monument St. Third Floor
Baltimore, MD 21205
(301) 955-7058
MBCRR--Molecular Biology Computer Research Resource
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Anyone.
Source code and documentation for DNA and protein sequence analysis software for Unix.
Accessible through FTP
FTP Host:
mbcrr.harvard.edu
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Contact:
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MBCRR-Package
[email protected]
MBCRR, LG-S127
44 Binney St.,
Boston. MA 02115
(617) 732-3746
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.20.
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
mbcrr.harvard.edu
MBCRR-Package
README
PROSITE
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Anyone, but most useful to molecular and structural biologists.
Dictionary of protein sites and patterns.
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Hosts:
directory:
file:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
repository/PROSITE
prosite.dat
Contact: [email protected]
Amos Bairoch
Medical Biochemistry Department
Centre Medical Universitaire
1211 Geneva 4
Switzerland
tel:
(+41 22) 61 84 92
More Info:
Bairoch, A., 1991, Nucleic Acids Research 19:2241-2245.
Handbook and User Manual
FTP Hosts:
directory:
files:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
pub/prosite
prosite.txt
prosite.doc
(Users Manual)
(Handbook)
SEQANALREF
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
DNA sequence analysis bibliography containing 1657 references.
Version 21.0 available in October, 1991.
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Hosts:
directory:
files:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
repository/SEQANALREF
seqanalr.dat
seqanalr.txt
(the bibliography)
(a help file)
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[email protected]
Amos Bairoch
Medical Biochemistry Department
Centre Medical Universitaire
1211 Geneva 4
Switzerland
tel: (+41 22) 61 84 92
More Info:
Bairoch A. 1991. SEQANALREF: a sequence analysis bibliographic reference data bank.
CABIOS 7:268-268(1991).
SWISS-PROT
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Protein sequence data bank containing 21,795 sequences and 21,773 references.
Release 20.0 will be available in November, 1991; tape and CD ROM distribution in late 1991.
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Hosts:
directory:
file:
Contact:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
repository/SWISS-PROT
userman.txt
(ASCII users manual)
[email protected]
Amos Bairoch
Medical Biochemistry Department
Centre Medical Universitaire
1211 Geneva 4
Switzerland
tel:
(+41 22) 61 84 92
More Info:
Bairoch A., Boeckmann B.; Nucleic Acids Res. 19:2247- 2249(1991).
Geography
Geographic Name Server
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone, but please do not use frivolously!
Currently, geographic information for U.S. cities, counties, states as well as some natural
features taken from the U.S. Geodetic Survey, and the U.S. Postal Service. There are plans for
worldwide coverage. Variables stored include names, elevation, latitude, longitude, population,
telephone area code and FIPS codes where appropriate.
The output from this program is most easily used as input for other software packages.
TELNET.
telnet martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000
Contact:
Tom Libert
[email protected]
(313) 936-3000
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Government and Politics
U.S. Senate Bibliographies
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Contact:
Anyone.
Bibliographies of U.S. Senate Committee hearings and publications for the 99th-102nd
Congresses.
Filenames in the database have a very particular way of being put together which you should
understood before using the database. Be sure to obtain the file readme.gwp9108 which explains
these formats.
Accessible through FTP and e-mail server.
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
ncsuvm.cc.ncsu.edu
senate
readme.gwp9108 (basic information file; the
last four numbers represent
year & month of file version)
e-mail:
subject:
message:
[email protected]
(none needed)
get readme gwp9108 senate
floppy disks by mail
John A. McGeachy
Documents Department
D.H. Hill Library,
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC
27695-7111
(919) 515-3280
Grants and Contracts
STIS--Science and Technology Information System (NNSC)
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
National Science Foundation publications, including NSF Bulletin, Guide to NSF Programs,
grants booklet including application forms, grants program announcements, press releases, NSF
telephone book, reports of National Science Board, abstracts and descriptions of research
projects currently funded by NSF, and analytical reports and news from the International
Programs division.
TELNET and modem service features prompts and full screen menus, online viewing of
documents, database search utilities, provisions for downloading, and tutorial.
STIS can be used through FTP, TELNET, or dial in calls by modem:
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
stis.nsf.gov
all directories
all files
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TELNET:
login:
stis.nsf.gov
public
MODEM CALL:
(202) 357-0359, or (202) 357-0360
Terminal emulation settings should be term=VT100, parity=even, data bits=7, duplex=full.
Contact:
[email protected]
Dr. STIS
National Science Foundation
Office of Information Systems,
Room 401
1800 G. Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20550
(202) 357-7555
More Info:
Online help during TELNET sessions.
STIS Manual, available from:
FTP Host:
files:
stis.nsf.gov
stishelp.man
stishelp.wp5
(ASCII format)
(WordPerfect 5 format)
History
General Information about History Databases
The FTP host ra.msstate.edu contains a great deal of information about history databases. This is a very good
source to check periodically if you want to keep abreast of developments in history databases. The directory
listed below also contains many online archives, articles, bibliographies, and other electronic documents. The
archives are maintained by Don Mabry of Mississippi State University.
FTP Host:
directory:
ra.msstate.edu
pub/docs/history
(contains many directories holding
files of interest to historians)
MEMDB (Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank)
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Contacts:
Contact MEMDB.
Data on western Europe between 800-1800 A.D.
One must pay subscription fees to RLIN
Through Research Libraries Group, Inc.
MEMDB:The Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank
Department of History CN 5059
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
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RLIN: RLIN Information Center
Research Libraries Group, Inc.
1200 Villa St.
Mountain View, CA 94041-1100
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.3 (MEMDB)
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 2.4 (RLIN)
Literature
Dartmouth Dante Project
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
A database containing the text of Dante's "Divina Commedia" and full texts of 600 years of
scholarly commentary on the work. The database uses the BRS/Search program. Currently, 46
of 60 planned commentaries has been installed.
Online help, and printed user manual for $4.00 Note that many of the commentaries are
copyrighted, so the database itself cannot be distributed. Available 24 hours a day, except for
Monday, 4:15-6:30 am Eastern Time.
Internet access via TELNET or modem:
TELNET:
library.dartmouth.edu (or 129.170.16.11)
modem access: (603) 643-6300 (300 and 1200 baud)
(603) 643-6310 (> 1200 baud)
After connecting by either TELNET or modem, supply terminal emulation information
("unknown" will work for most sessions); when you see the "->" prompt, type:
connect dante
to connect to the Dante Database.
Contact:
[email protected]
Dartmouth Dante Project
1 Reed Hall
HB 6087
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-2633
Mathematics
MATLAB User Group Archive
Audience:
Contents:
Anyone interested in or using the MATLAB numeric computation system.
MATLAB functions and utilities.
Chapter 12: Internet Accessible Databases and Bibliographies
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Access:
These MATLAB files are also accessible from NETLIB (please see next entry). If you choose
not to use NETLIB, you are encouraged to subscribe to the MATLAB users digest by sending a
subscription request, including your e-mail user-id and address, to: [email protected]
Via e-mail server:
mail:
subject:
message:
Contact:
144
[email protected]
(none needed)
send index from matlab
[email protected]
Christian Bischoff
Math and Computer Sciences Division
Argonne National Labs
Argonne, IL 60439
(708) 972-8875
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.18.
To subscribe to the MATLAB user's digest, send a request including you user-id and e-mail
address to:
[email protected]
Netlib Mathematical Software Distribution System
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone using or writing mathematical software.
Library of mathematical software and algorithms; also a menu driven service called "walk"
which allows one to find the appropriate algorithm for a particular purpose.
A tremendously valuable resource.
Accessible through FTP, e-mail server, TELNET, and modem.
FTP Host:
login:
directory:
research.att.com
netlib
all
Mail-server Access:
North American users should send mail to
[email protected] or
[email protected]
subject:
message:
(none needed)
send index
TELNET:
login:
research.att.com
walk
Modem Access: (908) 582-1238
login:
walk
Contact:
Eric Grosse, AT&T Bell Labs 2t-504, Murray Hill, NJ 07974
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e-mail:
tel:
145
[email protected]
(908) 582-5828
Maple FTP Archives
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Anyone using or interested in Maple mathematical software.
Maple software tools.
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Hosts:
129.132.101.33 (neptune) ETH Zurich, Switzerland
129.97.128.58 University of Waterloo, Canada
Mathematica FTP archives
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Anyone using or interested in the Mathematica software package.
Mathematica software tools.
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Hosts:
otter.stanford.edu
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu
nic.funet.fi
fenris.claremont.edu
siam.unibe.ch
vax.eedsp.gatech.edu
Music
Music and Lyrics Archives
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Anyone.
Lyrics for thousands of contemporary rock albums, discographies and commentary on the
classical music repertoire.
There is a directory to receive contributions to the archive (pub/tmp/incoming).
Accessible through FTP.
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
Contact:
vacs.uwp.edu
pub/lyrics
files.directory
[email protected]
Physics
PINET--Physics Information Network.
Audience:
Contents:
Comments:
Access:
Registered users.
SPIN and General Physics Advanced Abstracts, bibliographic databases, job announcements,
AIP meetings, news releases, and announcements, ordering of AIP publications.
This is a for fee service which requires an initial registration fee, and hourly connect charges.
Accessible through TELNET
TELNET:
pinet.aip.org
Chapter 12: Internet Accessible Databases and Bibliographies
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Statistics
Statlib Statistical Software and Data Distribution System
Audience:
Contents:
Access:
Anyone.
Statistical software, algorithms, datasets, directory of statisticians.
Statlib is accessible via FTP and e-mail server.
FTP Host:
login name:
password:
lib.stat.cmu.edu
statlib
your-e-mail-address
Mail server:
subject:
message:
[email protected]
(none needed)
send index
Statlib will send a file containing information about the contents of the archives, and more
detailed instructions on how to use the mailserver.
Contact:
Michael Meyer
[email protected]
Department of Statistics
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh PA, 15213
(412) 268-3108
More Info:
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 3.19.
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For More Information about Internet Databases and Bibliographies
Databases as Sources of Information about Databases
If there are databases in this chapter which are of special interest to you, you can communicate with their
appropriate contact people for information to determine what other related databases exist or are being planned.
In many cases, the databases listed in this chapter contain many pointers to other related databases (for example,
the History archives at Mississippi State University provides information on a wide variety of history-specific
sources throughout the world).
Fellow Internet Users and Peers as Sources of Information about Databases
If you are interested in particular classes of databases, you are advised to subscribe to some of the more
quantitatively oriented Internet discussion groups to keep up to date on what databases are available to researchers
in your field -- in fact, much of the information about online databases provided in this chapter was collected by
following up on postings to discipline specific LISTSERV and USENET discussion groups. Refer to Section 3 of
NUSIRG for more information on using LISTSERV and USENET, and how to determine what discussion groups
are most appropriate for your needs.
Other Printed Compendia of Internet Databases
Chapter 2 of the following source contains continually updated information about a variety of Internet databases
and bibliographies:
NSF Network Service Center. (1988 - ). Internet Resource Guide. NSF Network Service Center, Cambridge,
MA
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
nnsc.nsf.net
resource-guide
chapter2-ps.tar.Z (compressed and archived PostScript version of Chapter 2
chapter2.txt.tar.Z (compressed and archived ASCII version of Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 of the following printed document provides detailed information about 10 Internet databases:
NYSERNet, Inc. 1991. NYSERNet New User's Guide to Useful and Unique Resources on the Internet.
NYSERNet, Inc. Syracuse, NY.
Chapter 12: Internet Accessible Databases and Bibliographies
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Chapter 13: WAIS ( Wide Area Information Server ) :
An Interface to Databases
WHAT IS WAIS?
WAIS is an innovative "information server" program which allows you to search diverse databases on the Internet
from a single, easy-to-use interface.
For example, WAIS currently allows you to:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
read newspapers,
get information on any country in the world,
scan many specialized databases,
get information about the Internet,
and much more.
HOW WAIS WORKS
All versions of WAIS operate in the same way. WAIS runs on a "client" machine, such as a Macintosh connected
to the Internet, and queries "server" machines which contain the actual databases (such as a Connection Machine
in Cambridge, MA).
The WAIS client presents a uniform search interface, and translates the user's request into a syntax understood by
the various servers. You don't need to know anything about the various query languages of the server databases to
use WAIS.
WAIS is particularly adept at handling complex textual information. It can search through many large documents
for the occurrence of keywords, and list which documents are of relevance to your query. Each document gets a
score, ranging from 1-1000, for how well the document corresponds to what you want to find (with 1000 being
deemed a "perfect fit"). The criteria by which WAIS determines relevance of documents can be modified to
customize searches even more closely to the user's needs. This customization process uses a method called
"relevance feedback."
One of the many exciting possibilities opened up by WAIS and related Information Servers is that you can create
a "Personal Electronic Newspaper." You can have WAIS automatically pull all items of interest together into a
single document monthly, weekly, or even daily.
There are versions of WAIS available for the Mac, Unix computers, X-window terminals, and VMS. If you want
to install a copy of WAIS on your own system, read the section "How to Get a Copy of WAIS" at the end of this
document.
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FOR CURRENT INFORMATION ABOUT WAIS
WAIS is so new and rapidly evolving that this document will probably be out of date by time you read it. There
will probably be hundreds of WAIS clients running on many different Internet hosts with access to hundreds of
databases.
If you want to use or learn more about WAIS you are strongly encouraged to subscribe to one of the WAIS
discussion groups or mailing listed at the end of this document to keep posted on the rapid development of this
exciting new Internet resource.
USING WAIS
To illustrate the use of WAIS, we will show a session using the SWAIS program, which is a generally accessible
and easily used implementation of WAIS on the Internet. Note that many of the details of using WAIS would be
different on Mac or X-windows based implementations, which make extensive use of icons and the mouse.
SWAIS is one of several interactive, window oriented versions of WAIS. WAIS can also be run as a command
line program which allows much more powerful and automated searching of server databases.
A SAMPLE WAIS SESSION USING "SWAIS"
To use the SWAIS version of WAIS you should use full screen terminal emulation, such as vt100. Ask your local
user service staff or instructor if you need help.
Lines preceded by U> indicate lines on which you enter commands; lines preceded by W> indicate responses
from WAIS.
Boxes represent screens you will see, in whole or in part, during your SWAIS session.
To get started, just TELNET to quake.think.com:
U> telnet quake.think.com
W> SunOS UNIX (quake.think.com)
U> LOGIN:
wais
U> TERM = (unknown)
vt100
If you have specified a full screen terminal type, such as vt100, you should now see something like the following
on your screen:
Chapter 13: WAIS (Wide Area Information Server): An Interface to Databases
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SWAIS
Source Selection
#
01:
02:
03:
04:
05:
06:
07:
08:
09:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19:
150
Server
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
quake.think.com]
hub.nnsc.nsf.net]
hub.nnsc.nsf.net]
quake.think.com]
cmns.think.com]
quake.think.com]
cossack.cosmic.uga.e]
cossack.cosmic.uga.e]
wais.eff.org]
sol.acs.unt.edu]
microworld.media.mit]
cmns.think.com]
cmns.think.com]
cmns.think.com]
cmns.think.com]
hub.nnsc.nsf.net]
cmns.think.com]
quake.think.com]
cmns.think.com]
Sources:24
Source
Cost
directory-of-servers
ietf-documents
internet-drafts
internet-rfcs
info-mac
US-Gov-Programs
Cosmic-abstracts
Cosmic-programs
eff-documents
online-libraries
poetry
wall-street-journal
world-factbook
usenet-cookbook
sun-mail
internet-phonebook
risk-digest
sample-books
sample-patents
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
<space> select source, arrows move, <return> searches, q to quit,
? for help
The column labelled "server" names the Internet computer on which the database is located; "source" is a brief
description of the contents of the database; and "cost" is the cost to the user. In the upper right hand corner,
"sources 24" indicates that this particular WAIS server has access to 24 Internet databases.
When this screen first appears, you should see the top line highlighted. The up and down arrow keys on your
keyboard allow you to move this highlighted line to different entries. To select an entry, you would use an arrow
key to move to a desired source. Move the cursor to the line for the Wall Street Journal, and press the space bar.
It will now have an asterisk in front of it meaning it is a source that will be searched.
What a Source Looks Like After Having Been Selected
...
11:
[
microworld.media.mit]
Poetry
12:
*
[
cmns.think.com]
wall-street-journal
13:
[
cmns.think.com]
world-factbook
...
<space> select source, arrows move, <return> searches, q to quit,
Free
Free
Free
? for help
Chapter 13: WAIS (Wide Area Information Server): An Interface to Databases
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Now we can begin a search. Let's look for entries which contain information about tropical forests. Press the
<RETURN> key, the screen will clear, and you will be presented with a keyword prompt.
The Keyword Search Window
U> KEYWORDS: tropical forest
Enter keywords with spaces between them; <return> to search
Searching: wall-street-journal
WAIS is now establishing an Internet connection to the computer "cmns.think.com", and searching through the
database of Wall Street Journal articles for anything containing information relevant to the words "Tropical
Forests."
In a few seconds, the search is done, and the results are displayed on your screen. The "score" column indicates
WAIS's estimate as to how well that article fits your request, with 1000 being considered a "perfect fit." The
articles will be listed from most to least relevant.
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List of Articles Retrieved by WAIS
SWAIS
#
Search Results
Score
Source
Item
Title
01:[1000]
(cmns-vax.think)
Debate About Tropical Forests Rage
02:[ 887]
(cmns-vax.think)
The Market -- Conservation's Best
03:[ 838]
(cmns-vax.think)
FORM + FUNCTION----By John
04:[ 570]
(cmns-vax.think)
U.S. Forest Service Plans a Cut
05:[ 537]
(cmns-vax.think)
Business Brief -- Forest Oil Corp.
06:[ 505]
(cmns-vax.think)
As a Substitute, Somehow the Guy
07:[ 496]
(cmns-vax.think)
Business Brief -- Manville Corp.:
08:[ 496]
(cmns-vax.think)
Manville Corp.'s Net Fell in 1s
09:[ 496]
(cmns-vax.think)
Who's News: Fletcher Challenge
10:[ 488]
(cmns-vax.think)
Letters to the Editor -- Dolphi
11:[ 488]
(cmns-vax.think)
It's Rumored They Might Enlist
12:[ 480]
(cmns-vax.think)
Hershey Foods, Jell-O Are Mixing I
13:[ 480]
(cmns-vax.think)
Forest Products Makers to Post
14:[ 480]
(cmns-vax.think)
Letters to the Editor: Owls & O
15:[ 472]
(cmns-vax.think)
British Columbia Reaches--Compro
16:[ 472]
(cmns-vax.think)
Georgia-Pacific Earnings Drop
17:[ 464]
(cmns-vax.think)
Letters to the Editor: Dolphin18:[ 448]
(cmns-vax.think)
Business Brief -- Georgia-Pacific
19:[ 448]
(cmns-vax.think)
Potlatch Corp. Debentures SAN
<space> selects, arrows move, w for keywords, s for sources,
Lines
169
190
118
64
31
60
36
46
31
59
62
107
150
140
41
53
47
25
24
? for help
Just like in the main menu, we select a particular entry by moving the highlighted line to a desired entry, and press
the space bar.
Selecting an Article
01:*[1000] ( cmns-vax.think) Debate About Tropical Forests Ra 169
Retrieving:
Debate About Tropical Forests Rages
...and then the article is displayed on the screen.
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0050564WJ 9004060153J
WALL STREET JOURNAL (J), NO PAGE CITATION
900406
Copyright (c) 1990 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
FOREST, MONETARY NEWS, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, TRADE (I/MON)
ENVIRONMENT (I/ENV) PULP, PAPER, PACKAGING (ALL TYPES) (I/PUL)
Debate About Tropical Forests Rages
Southeast Asian Officials
Assail Conservationists
By Raphael Pura
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
KUCHING, Malaysia--Mention the fate of Southeast Asia's tropical forests these days and watch
official hackles rise.
"I'm not an environmental villain," protests Abdul Taib Mahmud, chief minister of Sarawak, a steamy
Malaysian state on the north coast of Borneo. He challenges conservationists to fly over his timbercarpeted domain: "You'll be lucky if you see any bald patches anywhere in Sarawak." Like other
government leaders across the region, Tan Sri Taib has reason to be defensive. Like it or not,
Southeast Asia is being sucked into the center of a global controversy over the world's fast-diminishing
tropical forests.
International environmental groups assert that unless the region's governments and timber industry
mend their ways, their actions will contribute to ecological problems that ultimately will affect the
entire Earth. Rapid deforestation of the tropics, environmentalists say, threatens to wipe out species of
plant and animal life, contributes to harmful changes in the global climate, and destroys forestdwelling societies.
(MORE)
Reading an Article
You can press any key and see the rest of the article. When we've finished reading the article, the following menu
reappears at the bottom of the screen.
<space> selects, arrows move, w for keywords, s for sources, ? for help
We could continue looking at the other articles in the list from the Wall Street Journal; but to make a point about
the power of WAIS, let's broaden the scope of our search. By accessing another database, we can learn more
about Borneo, one of the places mentioned in the article. Use the "s" command to go back to the list of databases
sources.
U> s
You will see the list of sources we saw previously. Put the highlighted line on the line referencing the "Wall
Street Journal," and press the space bar. This will "unselect" the Wall Street Journal. Now move the highlighted
Chapter 13: WAIS (Wide Area Information Server): An Interface to Databases
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line to the next line, the "world factbook," which contains summary information on countries and places around
the world.
13: * [
cmns.think.com] world-factbook
Type "w" to get the keyword search window:
U> w
U> Keywords: Borneo
Enter keywords with spaces between them; <return> to search
Searching: world-factbook
SWAIS
#
01:
Search Results
Score
[1000]
Source
( cmns-vax.think)
Item
Title
Appendix E: Cross-Reference L
Lines
1072
<space> selects, arrows move, w for keywords, s for sources, ? for help
Retrieving: Appendix E: Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names
You will now see the World Factbook Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names. Borneo is about four pages
down in the list, so we need to scroll through a few pages of geographic names.
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0000254CIA
The World Factbook 1990
900101
Addendum E: Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names
This list indicates where various names including all United States Foreign Service Posts, alternate
names, former names, and political or geographical portions of larger entities can be found. WORLD
FACTBOOK names are not necessarily approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names
(BGN). Alternate names are included in parentheses, additional information is included in brackets.
Name
Entry in the WORLD FACTBOOK
Abidjan (US Embassy)
Abu Dhabi (US Embassy)
Acapulco (US Consular Agency)
Accra (US Embassy)
Adana (US Consulate)
Addis Ababa (US Embassy)
Adelaide (US Consular Agency)
Adelie Land (Terre Adelie)
Ivory Coast
United Arab Emirates
Mexico
Ghana
Turkey
Ethiopia
Australia
Antarctica
--More-- (There are several more pages before we get to Borneo.)
Bora-Bora
Bordeaux (US Consulate General)
Borneo
Bornholm
Bosporus
French Polynesia
France
Brunei; Indonesia; Malaysia
Denmark
Atlantic Ocean
(followed by many more pages of place names
According to this list, we can get more information about Borneo by looking at the specific listings for Brunei,
Indonesia, and Malaysia. We'll select the file for Brunei to show you what a country listing looks like. As usual,
press the w key to get the keyword search screen, and type "Brunei".
U> w
U> Keywords: Brunei
Enter keywords with spaces between them; <return> to search
Searching: world-factbook
Chapter 13: WAIS (Wide Area Information Server): An Interface to Databases
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SWAIS
Search Results
Item
#
Score
Source
Title
01:
[1000]
( cmns-vax.think)
Country: Brunei--Geography
02:
[ 864]
( cmns-vax.think)
Country: Malaysia--Geograp
03:
[ 822]
( cmns-vax.think)
Appendix E: Cross-Reference
04:
[ 822]
( cmns-vax.think)
THE WORLD FACTBOOK
<space> selects, arrows move, w for keywords, s for sources,
? for help
156
Lines
224
295
1072
697
Move the cursor to line #1, press the space bar, and the file for Brunei will be displayed.
0000034CIA
The World Factbook 1990
900101
Country: Brunei
- Geography
Total area: 5,770 km2; land area: 5,270 km2
Comparative area: slightly larger than Delaware
Land boundary: 381 km with Malaysia
Coastline: 161 km
Maritime claims: Exclusive fishing zone: 200 n
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: may wish to purchase the Malaysian salient that divides the country
Climate: tropical; hot, humid, rainy
Terrain: flat coastal plain rises to mountains in east; hilly lowland in west
Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas, timber
Land use: 1% arable land; 1% permanent crops; 1% meadows and pastures;
79% forest and woodland; 18% other; includes NEGL% irrigated
Environment: typhoons, earthquakes, and severe flooding are rare
Note: close to vital sea lanes through South China Sea linking Indian and
Pacific Oceans; two parts physically separated by Malaysia.
- People
Population: 372,108 (July 1990), growth rate 7.1% (1990)
Birth rate: 23 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 4 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
(Followed by much more very detailed information)
Chapter 13: WAIS (Wide Area Information Server): An Interface to Databases
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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WAIS
The FTP Host at think.com contains much of what you need to know to get started using or installing WAIS.
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
think.com
wais
NCSA-Telnet-MacTCP.sit.hqx
UNC
WAIStation-0-61.sit.hqx
WAIStation-0-62.sit.hqx
WAIStation-Canned-Demo.sit
WAIStation-README
Z3950
etc
motif-a1.tar.Z
wais-8-b1.tar.Z
wais-8-b2.tar.Z
wais-8-b3.tar.Z
wais-corporate-paper.text
wais-overview-docs.sit.hqx
wais-project
(Telnet for MAC WAIS
(directory of WAIS for SUN
(Version 0.61 MAC WAIS
(Version 0.62 MAC WAIS
(MAC WAIS Demo
(GET THIS FILE....
(directory of Z39.50 info
(private directory
(Motif / WAIS code
(WAIS for Unix
(WAIS for Unix
(WAIS for Unix
(WAIS document
(WAIS docs. for MAC WAIS
(private directory
Note that all of the program files are archived and compressed. Use binary mode during your FTP transfer, and
when you've received them, unarchive and uncompress the files.
OS
MAC
Unix
Unarchiving Program
BinHex 4.0 or newer
tar
Uncompressing Program
UnStuffIt
uncompress
Read the passage in Chapter 4 of NUSIRG entitled "The ABCs of Handling Special Files" if you need more
information about how to use these programs.
KEEPING UP TO DATE WITH WAIS
Mailing Lists
There are a number of Internet interest groups devoted to discussions about WAIS:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
moderated mailings every 1 or 2 weeks.
major monthly announcement about WAIS
unmoderated and active discussion for
WAIS users and implementors
To subscribe to these groups, send an e-mail message to "[email protected]":
Mail:
Subject:
Message:
[email protected]
Subscription Request
(request a subscription, and provide your name, user-id, and Internet address)
Chapter 13: WAIS (Wide Area Information Server): An Interface to Databases
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USENET Newsgroups
Read this newsgroup through your USENET newsreader software. (For information about USENET, read Chapter
7 of NUSIRG.) By time you read this, there will probably be many more USENET discussion groups which deal
WAIS in the "comp" and other major hierarchies.
alt.wais
if your site doesn't receive this
group, send a message to the person
responsible for your site's USENET
news feed.
TECHNICAL CONTACT:
Brewster Kahle
Thinking Machines Corporation
1010 El Camino Real, Suite 310
Menlo Park, CA 94025
415-329-9300 X228
[email protected]
Thinking Machines Corporation
245 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
617-234-1000
PUBLISHED REFERENCES ABOUT WAIS
Printed copies of the following and many other WAIS documents can be obtained by contacting:
[email protected]
Barbara Lincoln
Thinking Machines Corp.
1010 El Camino Real
Suite 310
Menlo Park, CA 94025
phone: (415) 329-9300
fax:
(415) 329-9329
Markoff, J. 1991. "For the PC User, Vast Libraries." New York Times. July 3. pp.C1.
Stanfill, C., and R. Thau, 1991. "A Parallel Indexed Algorithm for Information Retrieval." Proceeding of the
12th International Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval SIGIR-89.
Stein, R. 1991. "Browsing Through Terabytes." Byte Magazine, May. pp. 157-164.
Chapter 13: WAIS (Wide Area Information Server): An Interface to Databases
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Chapter 14: Internet Directory Services
"In my house there's this light switch that doesn't do anything. Every
so often I would flick it on and off just to check. Yesterday, I got a
call from a woman in Germany. She said, 'Cut it out.'"
Steven Wright
OVERVIEW OF USING INTERNET DIRECTORY SERVICES
In the previous chapters of NUSIRG, you've learned how to:
❏ Use Internet tools
❏ Get information about information and resources
In this chapter you'll learn how to:
❏ Get contact information for people on the Internet
❏ Find e-mail addresses for computers on the Internet
With the techniques described in this chapter you will be able to independently find user-ids and addresses
appropriate to your particular needs and interests, rather than having to consult already compiled lists of
information.
Specifically, you will learn how to answer questions like the following:
❏ "What is the user-id and e-mail address for my colleague Jason Jaspers at Oregon State University in
Corvallis?"
❏ "How do I find the Internet address of a computer at the University of Montana which has data I need
for my economics class project?"
or even:
❏ "I think my long lost buddy from high school, Robin Sampson, might have an account on the
Internet. How can I find her user-id and e-mail address?"
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CURRENT CAPABILITIES OF INTERNET DIRECTORY SERVICES
Every day, we can get information about people's and companies' telephone numbers without a second thought.
All we have to do is look in a phone book or call directory assistance.
Equivalent services are also becoming available for the Internet. Computer scientists are actively working on
projects such as Knowbots and X.500 directory services which will be like "white pages" of users and hosts, and
"yellow pages" of network services. These services are still under development. Consequently some of them are
awkward to use, and contain information for only a tiny fraction of users, hosts, and services on the Internet.
But even though present-day Internet information services are very incomplete in their coverage, a small
percentage of a huge number can still be a very large number. For example, the "whois" service at nic.ddn.mil
probably lists somewhere around 2% of all Internet users and hosts--but this still amounts to over 75,000 users.
TECHNICAL AND ETHICAL CHALLENGES TO INTERNET DIRECTORY SERVICES
These caveats are not meant to disparage the contributions of the many people working on such projects, but
rather to acknowledge the difficulty of the task with which they are wrestling.
Many technical, ethical, and economic issues significantly complicate the provision of (or even deciding whether
to provide) comprehensive, reliable, and easy to use Internet directory services. In light of all these issues,
providing Internet information services is one the great challenges facing computer network technology.
❏ Complexity of Computer Information: E-mail addresses and their user-ids are often considerably
more complicated and variable in format than information needed for telephone listings. For
example, one person usually has no more than one home address, while it's not unusual for a
computer user to have five or six computer accounts.
❏ Volatility of Computer Information: In addition, e-mail addresses or user-ids change much more
rapidly than postal addresses or people's names. Your town has probably been in the same state
since it was established, the street you live on has probably had the same name for decades, and very
few people change their first names. In contrast, the domain name of an Internet computer might
change every couple of years, and your user-id(s) can be changed at any time, based on decisions
made by you or by systems administrators.
❏ Local Information Services are Still Embryonic: In order for an Internet wide information system to
be created, it would be useful (though possibly not necessary) for local site information systems to be
developed and perfected. This is not yet the case. Most institutions still do not have a publicly
accessible master list of local user-id's and services.
❏ Privacy and Security Issues: Many sites are understandably reluctant to publicize some or all
addresses or user-ids because of concerns about unauthorized access to sensitive data or costly
computer resources.
❏ Competing Paradigms: Standardized Internet protocols have already been established for transmitting
data (TCP/IP) and resolving computer names (DNS). However, there are still a number of
competing approaches for providing Internet "white pages" and "yellow pages" services, and, very
likely, additional programs will be created in the next few years. On the bright side, however,
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programs, such as Knowbots, which are described below, can be used to present a single user
interface for querying distinct information databases.
FINDING A PERSON ON THE INTERNET (THE EASY WAY)
It might seem old-fashioned, but you can find most people after a few well-planned phone calls or letters, at
minimal cost in time and money. When you contact them, you can ask them directly for their user-id and e-mail
address. Here's a typically vague "person directed" question a typical Internet user might ask which is best
approached by "traditional" methods.
You: "I had a friend in High School named Robin Sampson. We agreed that no matter what, we would
get in touch with each other before 1992. She loved the Pacific coast, so I bet she's somewhere
between Baja and Alaska. The last time we talked she was majoring in computer science at Oregon
State, so it seems likely she might use the Internet."
"I guess I'll try Robin's old phone number in my address book".
Tel: "We're sorry, this number has either been disconnected or is no longer in service..."
You: Call Alaska directory assistance:"Could I have the number for Robin Sampson or her dad, Henry
Sampson?"
Tel: "We're sorry, those names aren't listed for Anchorage or anywhere else in Alaska."
You: "Hello, is this the Oregon State alumni office? Could I have the current address for Robin Sampson,
class of 1985?"
Tel: "We're sorry, on her alumna information form, she wrote 'Headed for the great unknown; have fun
tracking me down!'"
Don't give up yet! You could try contacting some mutual friends or checking with directory assistance in other
area codes along the Pacific.
But Robin appears to be a member of the rare and elusive few who cannot be so easily found (and having read this
far, you appear to be one of those people who thrive on the challenge of pushing existing technology "through the
envelope").
FINDING A PERSON ON THE INTERNET WITH DIRECTORY SERVICES
If you can't find a person's Internet address by using telephone calls or postal mail, there are a few Internet
directory services which you can try.
Table 1 gives a brief summary of the features and uses of the most useful Internet directory services. Table 2
summarizes the basic "how to's" of accessing each of these services.
The rest of this chapter presents more detailed information and examples on these services, and presents a few
sample sessions.
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Table 1: Summary of Internet Directory Services
Knowbot Information Server (KIS)
A white pages "meta-service" which searches for finding user-ids of Internet users listed in many other white
pages services, including:
finger (@ any Unix host, e.g., [email protected])
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
X.500
This list includes most of the other services on this page, so KIS is your best candidate for "one stop" name
searches.
"USENET Address Server" (hereafter referred to as"U-ASK")
Searches for user-ids and e-mail addresses of people who have posted messages to USENET discussion groups.
This is a very useful service for finding "average" Internet users who have posted to USENET. It's not a fullfeatured directory service, just a list of names and e-mail addresses searched by the Unix grep command (this
service actually has no name; "U-ASK" was coined so it could be referred to by a name in this document).
DDN Network Information Center WHOIS Service
Searches for names, user-ids, computer and postal addresses, telephone numbers and other contact information for
70,000+ registered users, hosts, organizations, gateways, and networks throughout the Internet. Most persons
listed are network administrators or technical staff; especially good coverage of MILNET (formerly ARPANET).
PSI White Pages Pilot Project
Searches for names, user-ids, and e-mail addresses, primarily administrators and staff of participating institutions.
This is an exploratory project of the X.500 Directory Service.
soc.net-people
This is a USENET discussion group which is devoted to helping people find other people. It is accessed by using
USENET newsreader and news posting software (for more information about USENET, refer to Chapter 7 of
NUSIRG). If you post to this group, you are encouraged to make your "subject" line as concise and informative as
possible. For example, an intelligent posting to find our hypothetical friend Robin Sampson might look like this:
subject: Western U.S: Robin Sampson
I am attempting to locate a friend named Robin Sampson. The last I heard from her was in 1983, when
she was studying computer science at Oregon State (followed by other relevant information).
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Table 2: Basic Access Information for Internet Directory Services
How to Use this Table
The syntax examples present the simplest possible kind of search; most of these services have additional options
for more sophisticated searches (e.g., restrict the search to users in a particular geographic region, etc.)
Service
Knowbot
Access Info
e-mail
TELNET
"U-ASK"
DDN.MIL
PSI
Addresses and Basic Syntax Examples
[email protected]
[email protected]
nri.reston.va.us 185 (no password)
sol.bucknell.edu 185 (no password)
(you *must* include 185, the port #)
syntax example:
online help:
query Robin Sampson
help or ?
e-mail
[email protected]
syntax example:
online help:
send usenet-addresses/Sampson
no
e-mail
TELNET
[email protected]
nic.ddn.mil
syntax example:
online help:
whois Sampson
extensive help and tutorials
TELNET
wp.psi.com (login = fred)
or wp2.psi.com (login--fred)
syntax example:
online help:
whois, but please read online help. This is a complex system
man fred or manual
KNOWBOT INFORMATION SERVER (KIS)
Summary
Retrieves user-ids, e-mail addresses, postal addresses, telephone numbers, and institutional affiliation for users
throughout the Internet.
In its current implementation, KIS is set up to search other white pages datasets (thus KIS is referred to as a white
pages "meta-service"). The following white pages services are currently accessed by KIS:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
X.500
finger (@ any Unix host, e.g., [email protected])
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This list includes most of the other services discussed in this chapter, and new services will be added as they
become operational, so KIS is your best choice for "single stop" name searches.
Access Methods
❏
e-mail:
❏
TELNET:
[email protected], or
[email protected]
nri.reston.va.us 185, or
sol.bucknell.edu 185
(no password required)
Local Installation
KIS can be installed locally and run on computers connected to the Internet using any version of Unix with
Berkeley style sockets. KIS currently has translation programs for whois (nic.ddn.mil), profile, mcimail, QUIPU,
and finger. Any sites using these services can be added easily to a locally installed KIS.
Sample Knowbot Information Server Session (via TELNET)
Note that this entire session could have been performed with a single e-mail request as long as each user command
was placed on a separate line.
User Commands (U>), KIS responses (K>)
Explanation
U> telnet nri.reston.va.us 185
U> services
K> nic
K> mcimail
K> ripe
K> x500 (be sure to set the org)
K> [email protected] host
U> query Robin Sampson
(make TELNET connection)
(show directory services available by default
at this KIS site)
K> Name:
K> Organization:
K> Address:
K> City:
K> State:
K> Country:
K> Zip:
K> Phone:
K> E-Mail:
K> Source:
K> Ident:
K> Last Updated:
(search for Robin Sampson)
Robin Sampson
Oregon State University
Corvallis
OR
US
97331-3902
503/555-9999
[email protected]
[email protected]
RSA999
02-Apr-91.
K> No matches found for Robin Sampson from [email protected]
K> No matches found for Robin Sampson from [email protected]
U> service [email protected]
(use the finger program at
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Robin's computer)
U> print
(ask for display of current
KIS search variables)
K> name Robin Sampson
K> service [email protected]
K> raw = FALSE
U > query Robin Sampson
(search for Robin again)
K> Name:
K> E-Mail:
K> Source:
K> Last Updated:
(output from the finger)
(daemon at ucs.orst.edu)
Robin Sampson
[email protected]
[email protected]
(unknown)
U> quit
(type "quit" to leave KIS)
For More Information About KIS
Online Help:
help, ?, and help <command> (e.g., help query)
Technical Documents:
FTP Host:
directory:
files:
Overview Document
NNSC Internet Resources Guide, Section 4.5
Discussion Group:
[email protected]
nri.reston.va.us
rdroms
KIS.PS
KIS.txt
(to subscribe, send e-mail to:
[email protected])
USENET-ADDRESSES SERVER (U-ASK)
Summary
Retrieves user-ids and e-mail addresses.
This service is based on a simple C program which searches ("greps") through a list of names, user-ids, and e-mail
addresses culled from USENET article headers. As of September 1991, it is installed only at pit-manager.mit.edu.
The addresses database is updated every month or two.
on the up-side:
❏ Searches through this database will often turn up many names not found in the standard white pages
services (as in the hypothetical example below).
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on the down side (until other sites install such servers...):
❏ Not all USENET groups are received at MIT (e.g., regional groups).
❏ Many USENET articles are posted with limited distribution, and will not be included in the database.
Access Method
Send an e-mail message to the mailserver using the following syntax:
e-mail:
subject:
message:
[email protected]
(none needed)
send usenet-addresses/name
for example:
mail
mail text:
[email protected]
send usenet-addresses/Sampson
In a few minutes, you should receive a mail file from the mail-server containing all user-ids and e-mail addresses
for anyone with the last name of "Sampson" who has posted USENET articles received at MIT:
...
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
...
(Robin Sampson)
(Robin Patricia Sampson)
(Robin Thomas Sampson)
Local Installation
If you or your users anticipate needing to access this database frequently, you can FTP the database (currently > 2
megabytes in size) and use locally written search programs to search through it:
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
pit-manager.mit.edu
pub/usenet-addresses
addresses.Z
For More Information About U-ASK
If you have problems with the present server at MIT, send mail to [email protected].
PSI WHITE PAGES PILOT X.500 PROJECT
Summary
Retrieves names, user-ids, computer and postal addresses, primarily for administrators and staff of participating
institutions.
PSI White Pages is a "pilot project" sponsored by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the
U.S. Air Force.
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X.500 is a strongly hierarchical storage system--entries are arranged in trees, with each entry having "parents" and
"children." Such a storage and recovery system is very effective for highly structured organizations.
Access Methods
TELNET:
login:
wp.psi.com or
wp2.psi.com
fred (fred means "FRont End to the Directory")
Sample X.500 Session (via TELNET)
In the following session, commands which you enter are preceded by "U>" or "U>fred>", and responses from the
X.500 directory service are preceded by "X>". Please note that this database is frequently updated. Thus, the
information you obtain from a search will differ from this example.
U> telnet wp.psi.com
U> login name is fred
U> fred> whois * -org NorthW
X> NorthWest Net (1)
+1 206-562-3000
X> NorthWest Net
X>
Suite 202
X>
15400 SE 30th Plc
X>
Bellevue
X>
WA
X>
98007
X>
A regional network supporting educational/commercial research
X>Name:
NorthWest Net, US (1)
X>Modified: Wed Oct 16 13:27:42 1991
X>
by: Manager, US (2)
X>14 children.
X>
X>
5. Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs
X>
6. Montana State University
X>
7. ND-HECN-North Dakota State University
X>
8. Oregon Graduate Institute
X>
9. Oregon State University
X>
10. Portland State University
X>
11. University of Alaska
X>
12. University of Idaho
X>
13. University of Oregon
X>
14. University of Washington
X>
15. Washington State University
X>
16. Western Washington University
X>
17. Manager
X>
18. Postmaster
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You can then query X.500 for more information about any one of the individual sites which it has listed.
For More Information About The PSI White Pages Project
There is a great deal of documentation about the PSI White Pages Pilot Project specifically, and X.500 and
QUIPU generally.
Online Help:
help, ?, and help <command> (e.g., help query)
Introductory Documents:
You can send e-mail to [email protected] and to [email protected]
report-1.ps
report-2.ps
report-3.ps
"White Pages Pilot Project: Status Report, 12/31/89"
"Realizing the White Pages using the OSI Directory Service, 5/2/90"
"White Pages Pilot Project: Status Report, 9/10/90"
In addition, PSI's proprietary graphical interfaces to the White Pages are available in source form to interested
parties by contacting [email protected].
A brochure on the White Pages is available by sending e-mail to:
[email protected]
The following essay compares the merits of X.500 and Z.39.50:
"Towards Networked Information Retrieval," by Wengyik Yeong, PSI Inc.
FTP Host:
Directory and files:
uu.psi.com
wp/nir.txt
wp/ps/nir.ps
(ASCII)
(PostScript)
Online Discussion Groups of X.500 Related Topics
USENET Newsgroups:
comp.protocols.iso
comp.protocols.iso.dev-environ
Mailing Lists:
[email protected]
[email protected]
To subscribe to these mailing lists, send a subscription request to:
[email protected]
or
isode-request @nic.dd.mil
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INTERNET DIRECTORY SERVICES: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The evolution of the Internet, like most other forms of technology, is very responsive to the needs and activities of
its users. The demands which you and other Internet users place on the services described in this chapter will be a
powerful incentive for the creation of high quality Internet directory services.
It has taken years of development to attain the level of quality we expect from traditional information systems
such as telephone directory services. Internet directories are not yet as comprehensive, reliable, or easy to use as
they could be, but with strong demand from the user community and rapid response from service providers, such
systems could be at hand before the end of the decade.
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SECTION 5: EXPLORING NEW FRONTIERS
Chapter 15 : Using the Global Internet in K-12 Education ..................................................... 171
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 172
Why Use Computer Networks In K-12 Education?................................................... 172
To What Networks Can K-12 Schools Connect? ...................................................... 176
To What Network Should We Connect?................................................................... 181
Are There Sources of Ffunding to Help Defray the Costs? ....................................... 181
Using Global Networks For K-12 Education ............................................................ 182
Table 1: LISTSERV Discussion Groups Relevant to K-12 Educators and
Students ................................................................................................................... 191
Table 2: Interest Groups of Potential Value to K-12 Audiences............................... 194
Table 3: Pointers to USENET Groups and Categories of Particular Interest to
K-12 Educators ........................................................................................................ 195
Table 4: Electronic Journals Of Possible Value to K-12 Educators.......................... 197
ADDENDUM 1A: Contacts For Regional Internet Service Providers...................... 198
ADDENDUM 1B: Contacts For Commercial Internet Service Providers................. 201
ADDENDUM 2: Statewide Education Networks and Contacts................................ 202
ADDENDUM 3: Cooperative Not-For-Profit Network Providers ............................ 213
K-12 Education
Unlike the previous sections of NUSIRG which dealt with general purpose Internet tools and resources,
the chapter in this section is directed at special subsets of Internet users: K-12 educators and students.
The Internet activities described in this chapter represent rapidly evolving applications of networks for
education and research. K-12 educational users are propelling the use of the Internet to new and exciting
frontiers.
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Chapter 15 : Using the Global Internet in K-12
Education
"Do you know what it is to be alive?"
"It's when you can do things."
"Is a cat alive?"
"Yes."
"A table?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"It can't move."
"Is a bicycle alive?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
It can go."
"Is a bicycle alive when it isn't moving?"
""Yes."
"Is the moon alive?"
"Yes, sometimes it hides behind the mountains."
From a conversation between
Jean Piaget and a seven year old boy
"The Child's Conception of the World"
THE PURPOSES AND USES OF THIS DOCUMENT
In the past few years, there has been increasing growth in the use of statewide, national and even international
networks in K-12 education. This chapter provides an introduction to some of the many Internet resources which
are of special interest to K-12 educators, as well as a brief overview of other providers who specialize in K-12
networking.
❏
❏
❏
If you don't know anything about such networks, you'll be introduced to some of the exciting
educational potentials of computer networks.
If your school is contemplating becoming networked, you'll gain a greater understanding of who is
providing network services, what they offer, and who to contact for more detailed information.
If you're already using computer networks, you'll be directed to a wealth of resources which will
allow you to enhance the educational value of networks in your school's curriculum.
Much existing network documentation is designed for users at universities and research institutions. The
information that a K-12 audience needs is often buried in a tangle of technical references not directly relevant to
your purposes. The goal of this report is to focus on network services that are of immediate value to K-12
education.
This primer will prove most useful to schools which have or are contemplating gaining access to a global network
called "The Internet." Nonetheless, many of the resources and references included will be useful for schools using
other wide area networks as well, especially if these networks allow direct or gatewayed communication to the
Internet.
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You'll get the most from this primer if you use it as a K-12 specific supplement to the rest of the chapters of the
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide (NUSIRG). We suggest that you use the body of the
NUSIRG to provide information about how to access and to take full advantage of the major classes of Internet
resources (i.e., electronic library resources, electronic books, data bases, and remote computing resources).
INTRODUCTION
Rapid growth is now occurring in computer networks throughout the United States among primary and secondary
schools. Many proponents of K-12 education networking have as their goal the connection of a majority of the
nation's schools to international computer networks by the end of the decade.
The use of computer networks in primary and secondary education is so new that the typical school is faced with a
large number of questions before, during, and after linking to a wide area computer network.
❏
❏
❏
❏
Why would our school want to connect to a global computer network?
To what networks can K-12 schools connect?
❏ What kinds of educationally relevant services does each network support?
❏ To whom can we turn for user services and technical help?
❏ What kind of hardware and software do we need?
To what network should we connect?
Are there sources of funding to help defray the costs?
And finally, the most important question is:
❏
How can we make the best use of networks to advantage and enhance our educational curriculum?
Because K-12 networking in particular began in earnest only a few years ago and because the networking world in
general is evolving so rapidly, definitive answers to the preceding the questions simply do not exist.
In fact, there may never be definitive answers for many of these questions; and that may be a good thing! Unlike
many national, federally sponsored networks which have centralized authority and administration, each K-12
school district serves a distinct and unique constituency. This diversity and plurality will be reflected in the
strategies adopted by each K-12 school district, from the technical to the pedagogical. No single solution can be
right for everyone.
However, sources of information do exist which will help you make informed decisions about how networks can
be used to further the educational goals of your school. The rest of this primer will help you to locate and to use
the information you need to answer these important questions.
WHY USE COMPUTER NETWORKS IN K-12 EDUCATION?
Computer networks offer tremendous opportunities for K-12 education.
Educational Opportunities For The Students.
For decades, visionaries have been talking about how telecommunications could lead to "a world without
borders," a kind of "global village" in which it is as easy to communicate with someone on the other side of the
world as it is to visit a next-door neighbor.
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Computer networks can help to make the "global village" a reality for you and your students. With a few
keystrokes from the classroom computer, your students can:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
engage in global dialogue with students and instructors using electronic mail;
practice written foreign language skills with native speakers in online discussion groups;
participate in, or even initiate meaningful projects which are based on collaboration and cooperation
of thousands of students throughout the world;
obtain supplemental instructions from online tutorials or enrollment in distance education courses at
American or even foreign institutions; or
gain "information literacy," a basic understanding of how to navigate in and take full advantage of
the networked world into which they will be graduating.
Information and Hardware Resource Sharing
When a school is connected to a full-service, worldwide network like the Internet, it immediately gains access to
hundreds of millions of dollars of resources for a very small investment in hardware and software. Networks can
be "The Great Democratizer" of educational resources. Even the smallest and most isolated rural school can use
the same service enjoyed by the largest and best endowed urban universities.
Examples of what students from a networked school can do from their desks include, but are by no means limited
to:
❏
❏
❏
❏
accessing hundreds of catalogs of the world's best libraries;
instantaneously copying educationally rewarding software and documents from file archives such as
Bulletin Board Services;
exploring and manipulating complex databases of real research data containing information from
agricultural markets, global climate simulations, or even space missions to other planets;
enrolling in supercomputer training programs which give students access to the world's most
powerful computers.
In Service Education and Teacher Enrichment
The teachers in primary and secondary schools sometimes feel isolated from the peers, professors, and facilities
they had learned to depend on throughout their training in colleges and universities. By using computer networks,
K-12 educators can:
❏
❏
❏
❏
continue their professional contacts formed during their college or university education can
increase the number and diversity of and educational resources they use while teaching,
participate in continued education by enrollment in universities and colleges which offer distance
education programs via networks;
and, of course, utilize all of the resources listed in the two sections above.
A Quick Caveat
Appropriately deployed and utilized, computers and computer networks can contribute significantly to
improvements in America's educational system. With all the ballyhoo surrounding computers in the modern
world, it's crucial to remember that although computer networks do have tremendous educational value, taken
alone they will not be the panacea for America's educational system.
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The quality of life in our world is more dependent upon the development of day-to-day, interpersonal skills, and
on nurturing basic skills such as "reading, writing, and arithmetic". Computers and computer networks are a
blessing only insofar as they further this basic learning process. The most important assets of schools are skilled,
dedicated teachers, and parents who have a supportive enthusiasm for their children's education. Computers are-and should always be--a tool, a supplement, not a replacement, for the human resources of our schools.
Happily, most applications of computer networks in education have taken these considerations into account. In
summary, if used intelligently and with a sensitivity to the student or teacher as a person, networks can deliver
such educational benefits that every K-12 school should consider joining a computer network.
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A Sampler of Projects in K-12 Networking
Here we describe a few of the many current K-12 projects using computer networks. These projects are included
to give you an idea of the scope and breadth of network activities available to you and your students. You are
likely to find that the people involved in these projects will enthusiastically share their expertise and resources,
particularly if you are interested in initiating similar efforts.
Disabled Data Link Group and Chatback:
DDLG and the Chatback Project for Children currently involves 60 schools supporting the use of networks by
disabled students, in an effort to assist those with special needs.
Cliff Jones
e-mail: 2:245/71 (FidoNet)
[email protected] (Internet).
EARTH KIDS:
A non-profit international kids organization to promote communication about and for hands-on, community based
ecological projects around the world. For more information, contact:
Marshall Gilmore
(503) 363-1896.
e-mail: 1:105/606 (FidoNet)
[email protected] (Internet);
NEWSDAY
A multi-curricular project in which students in each participating school produce a local newspaper based on the
news dispatches submitted on the NEWSDAY news wire by student correspondents. Students become news
gatherers and reporters, editors, layout and graphics artists, and publishers. Participation on a national and
international scale leads to understanding of broad issues which transcend local concerns. This project can
involve your students in weeks of cross-curricular activity.
Al Rogers
FrEdMail Foundation
PO Box 243, Bonita, CA 91908
(619) 475-4852
e-mail: SDCOE!BONITA!AROGERS
(FrEdMail)
[email protected]
(Internet)
Project Zero-G:
Students, teachers, and adult experts from outside schools will examine aspects of our everyday life and consider
how they would have to be redesigned to function in the zero-gravity environments of orbiting space stations like
SkyLab and the Soviet Solyut. This can include the design of everyday objects (silverware, shelves, rooms,
buildings), and the design of everyday activities (education, sports, transportation vehicles), including the redesign of social interactions. This project can provide an extended global network experience for students and
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teachers in many curricular areas: science, social studies, writing, problem solving, mathematics, art and design.
The final designs will be submitted to NASA as a technical report, and will assist NASA engineers in the design
of the new American space station.
Jim Levin
e-mail: [email protected] (Internet)
UIUCED2!JLEVIN (FrEdMail)
TO WHAT NETWORKS CAN K-12 SCHOOLS CONNECT?
This section tells you to how to get information on the major players in K-12 networking and what they have to
offer. Even if your school is already connected to a network, you should read this section to find out if there are
additional networking options which can either supplement or replace your current setup.
Overview
Like universities, K-12 schools have many choices for network connectivity:
❏
Internet networks, like the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored regional networks.
The next four network options include some networks which are actually part of the Internet, and others which are
not:
❏
❏
❏
❏
Statewide networks
Non-profit cooperative networks
Commercial networks
"Public Data Networks"
Each networking option has unique strengths and weaknesses. To help you make an informed decision, this
section summarizes what services each of these categories of network providers typically can offer K-12 schools.
Contact names, addresses, and phone numbers for many network providers are listed at the end of this report so
you can communicate with representatives of those networks in which you are especially interested.
Overview of "The Internet"
The Internet is a global network of networks. As of September 1991 it connected an estimated 5,000 networks,
350,000 host computers, and 3,500,000 people. These already enormous numbers are continuing to grow
exponentially every year.
All Internet networks, everywhere in the world, use the same "standards" for communicating, called "The TCP/IP
Internet Protocols." All that you need about TCP/IP right now is that it makes an enormous variety of services
available to the user, and that you can communicate to every computer on the Internet in the same way, no matter
what or where it is. Within the United States, there are a number of regional and national networks which use the
Internet standards. Detailed information about Internet networks is provided in Chapter 2 of NUSIRG.
Of particular interest to K-12 educators is "The National Science Foundation Network" (NSFNET), a high speed,
state-of-the-art network which was created specifically to support the use of computer networks in education and
research.
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By time you read this, NSFNET and similar national Internet networks may have been renamed "The National
Research and Education Network" (NREN). In November of 1991, President Bush signed the High-Performance
Computing Act which authorized the creation of a permanent NREN. The bill allocated $2.9 billion over the next
five years to enhance the United States' high-performance computing and communications infrastructure. Please
see the section "For More Information" on how to keep abreast of NREN developments and funding opportunities.
Regional Internet Networks
The national NSFNET itself is a framework, or "backbone" network, currently linking NSF-sponsored regional
networks distributed throughout the nation. From these NSFNET backbone sites, each regional network branches
off to serve many sites throughout a specific geographic region.
Some regional networks service a geographically small but densely computerized portion of a single state (e.g.,
BARRNet for the San Francisco and Silicon Valley area), while others help bring large, sparsely populated
regions together into the network world (e.g., NorthWestNet, which serves the United States from Alaska, south to
Oregon, and east to North Dakota).
Many K-12 schools are already enjoying the benefits of direct connection to the Internet through regional Internet
networks.
K-12 Users and The Internet
Here is what regional Internet networks have to offer everyone, including K-12 users.
Resources And Capabilities:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
global electronic mail
global discussion groups
large archives of free software and documents
free "electronic books"
subscriptions to "electronic journals"
computer "white pages" and "yellow pages" to find people and resources on the Internet
ability to login to remote computers to access:
❏ hundreds of electronic library catalogs
❏ a wide variety of databases for teaching and research
❏ supercomputers for high speed calculations, state-of-the-art graphics, and other
technology applications
high
In summary, most kinds of resources that are available on computer networks are available through the Internet.
In terms of comprehensive networking capabilities, the Internet has no match.
Internet Support and Training
❏
❏
Almost all regional Internet networks have central Network Operations Centers (NOCs) to handle
most of the day-to-day maintenance of the network as a whole. Each NOC site within a regional has
staff who are devoted to technical maintenance of local sites.
Most regionals have, or are planning, central Network Information Centers (NICs) which provide
basic documents and other user services support for network users. A few regionals, like
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NorthWestNet, have a well-established track record in providing annual meetings, training programs,
and user guides for member institutions.
K-12 Specific Internet Support and Services
The Internet offers a rapidly growing variety of resources specifically designed for use in K-12 education
including:
❏
❏
❏
❏
databases developed especially for K-12 education (e.g., Spacelink)
documentation for K-12 networking
summer programs at NSF-sponsored supercomputer sites for students and teachers (e.g., Cornell
National Supercomputer Facility, National Center for Supercomputer Applications, National Energy
Research Supercomputer Center, and Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center)
nationwide Internet directory services specifically for K-12 educators should be available by early
1992 through Michigan's Merit network
For More Information:
Addendum 1A lists the names and contact information for the NSF-sponsored regional Internet networks.
State Networks
Another promising source of network connectivity for K-12 schools are statewide networks. A survey of
statewide networks released in April, 1991, reported that most all of the 50 states either had established, or were
about to initiate, state networks which would include K-12 connectivity as a central goal (Kurshan, 1991).
Resources and Abilities:
Every state network is different. The technical sophistication of statewide networks varies tremendously, between
and within states; in some states, connections from K-12 schools are made through dial-up modems, while other
states use more modern technologies such as high speed (T1) backbones, fiber optics, point-to-point microwave,
and satellite links. Some statewide networks feature direct K-12 Internet access.
Most statewide networks offer electronic mail; though in some cases, this is still restricted to administrative
purposes.
Other general network services offered by some, but not all statewide networks include:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
online dictionaries and encyclopedias
discussion groups
library catalogs
bulletin board services for announcements and software
access to the Internet and Internet services
K-12 Specific Support and Services From Statewide Networks
Since many state networks have been (or are being) developed at least in part, to support K-12 education, some
offer services of special interest to K-12 students and educators.
❏
distance education programs through universities and colleges
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❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
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professional employment referral services
network distribution instructional video services
systems to teach educators how to use networks
educational databases
online "test-banks"
a number of state networks are working on "menu driven" Internet access utilities to make the
Internet easier for K-12 use (e.g.,California, Texas, Florida, and Virginia)
If you are in a position to make or influence decisions about the design and implementation of your state network,
you can get a wealth of useful information by comparing notes with peers working with other state networks.
Comprehensive overviews of state networks can be found in McAnge et al. (1990), and Kurshan (1990b, 1991)
For your convenience, addendum 2 lists the names and contacts for all statewide networks discussed in Kurshan's
1991 report.
Not-For-Profit Cooperative Networks
There are many national and even international not-for-profit, cooperative computer networks which are
particularly appropriate for K-12 educational networking.
Many not-for-profit cooperative networks offer a low cost and effective basic network option for K-12 schools.
These networks are particularly valuable for K-12 sites which cannot, or choose not to, connect directly to the
Internet, or whose state networks are still embryonic. But even schools which currently employ other network
options can gain a great deal by using these services.
An especially promising and widespread non-profit network for K-12 education is K12Net, which is an offshoot of
a more general purpose network called FidoNet. A brief description of FidoNet and K12Net will give you an idea
of how some of these networks work, and a general idea of the kinds of services typically offered by non-profit
networks generally.
FidoNet
FidoNet is an international network with 10,000 electronic "Bulletin Board Systems" (BBS's) in more than 50
countries. It is a "grassroots," decentralized, non-profit network operated entirely through volunteer effort.
A BBS can be run with minimal hardware and software requirements. All you need is a telephone, a modem, a
personal computer, a hard-disk, and free FidoNet software. A good file backup system is of course a wise
investment as well.
K12Net
K12Net is a spin-off of FidoNet designed specifically for K-12 students and teachers. The goal of K12Net is to
create a demand for networking services within the K-12 education community by making it as easy as possible
for K-12 schools to start networking. If you have access to a telephone, a modem, and a computer, you can dial
up a FidoNet or K12Net BBS, and start exploring the world of K-12 networking immediately. K12Net is an
accessible, hands-on network-based technology simple enough for students to learn and even operate.
K12Net offers the following services:
❏
❏
global electronic mail, which can be sent to and received from the Internet
K-12 oriented discussion groups
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an extraordinarily rich archive of K-12 oriented educational software (currently for MS-DOS
computers only), documents, and other information available at 19 major K12Net BBSs.
With 10,000 FidoNet sites around the world, chances are good that K12Net can be reached from your school by
either free or low cost phone calls.
Contact information for a number of the more widespread, K-12 oriented cooperative networks is given in
addendum 3, including information for the main regional K12Net system operators, and the phone numbers for
calls to their modem-accessible BBS's.
National Public Telecommuncations Network
The National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to establishing and
developing free, computerized information and communication services for the general public. NPTN has just
been started. As of September, 1991 there were four sites in the Midwest, but by time you read this guide, NPTN
may be an international network services provider.
Current services are based on Bulletin Board Services which provide a variety of information of interest to the
general public.
Contact information on NPTN is given in addendum 3.
Commercial Networks
There are many commercial networks, some of which have targeted their services very specifically at the K-12
market. Most all commercial networks offer:
❏
❏
electronic mail
conferencing systems
Commercial networks often provide many other services of interest to K-12 educators such as online
encyclopedias. Some commercial networks use Internet protocols, and thus allow full access to the Internet
services described earlier.
See Kurshan (1990a) and Quarterman (1990) for overviews and contact information for commercial network
providers generally. Addendum 1B gives contact information for several commercial Internet network providers.
Public Data Networks
"Public data networks" tend to be relatively specialized databases which are often accessed by modem calls.
McAnge et al. (1990) and Quarterman (1990) provide an introduction to a variety of such services.
TO WHAT NETWORK SHOULD WE CONNECT?
As the previous discussion demonstrates, K-12 schools can obtain network connectivity from a wide variety of
providers. How does one choose which network service is best?
If your school hasn't yet been connected to an external network, you might think that the most basic network
services, such as electronic mail, would be adequate. But judging from the experience of universities and research
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institutions, it is likely that once you've made a connection to a global network, the use of computer networks by
students and teachers at your school will grow rapidly.
If you want to be ready for this growth, you should choose a service which offers flexibility for accommodating
this growth. If at all possible, you should you choose a service which allows you full access to the Internet.
Here are some of the many considerations which have to be taken into account to determine what option is best
for your purposes.
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
How much computer experience do your teachers and students already have?
What sort of computer equipment does you school already have?
What are the costs of obtaining the hardware required for connectivity and the commercial provider's
annual fees?
Do you need full service connectivity immediately, or would access to electronic mail and
conferencing be sufficient to get your staff and students comfortable with networking?
Are there any legislative restrictions which make certain options difficult?
How well will a particular option scale as more demands are placed on it by newly enthusiastic
students and teachers?
ARE THERE SOURCES OF FFUNDING TO HELP DEFRAY THE COSTS?
Full or partial funding for K-12 networking, ranging from the construction of statewide networks as a whole to the
purchase of equipment for individual K-12 schools has come from a wide variety of sources.
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
state departments of education, energy, or science
federal agencies (DOE, NSF, and USDE in particular)
private and public universities
national and regional telecommunications companies (GTE, SNET, USWest)
computer companies (Apple, IBM)
contributions from various foundations and individuals
K-12 school and school district budgets
Financial support for K-12 networking should be justifiable to any of the sources to which you normally turn for
any other educational project funding.
A new and particularly notable source of funding specifically directed at K-12 networking is The Annenberg
Foundation / Corporation for Public Broadcasting project. Under this project up to $5 million per year will be
provided for educational applications of telecommunications for a period of 12 years. As of September 1991,
there were plans to begin accepting grant proposals for K-12 networking starting in late 1991. For more
information, contact:
Michael Strait, Ph.D.
Project Officer for Research and Evaluation
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
901 E. Street NW
Washington DC 20004-2006
tel: (202) 879-9646
e-mail: [email protected]
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USING GLOBAL NETWORKS FOR K-12 EDUCATION
This section of the document will give brief, K-12 oriented overviews of each of the major kinds of applications
you'll encounter when using computer networks.
Because the Internet provides the greatest variety of resources (and because it would not be possible to explain the
use of these resources on every kind of computer network in this brief document), all examples provided here use
the Internet. Nonetheless, the general principles which are illustrated here should be useful even if you are not yet
using the Internet.
Most of the entries in this section have the following structure:
a. A quick description of the resource.
b. A real, K-12 oriented example of an Internet application.
c. pointers to K-12 specific information about using the resource on the Internet.
Certain services which require actual connection to computers (like electronic library catalogs) can only be done
through the Internet or very occasionally by using a modem for dial-in access. Much more comprehensive
treatment of each of these resources can be found in the resource specific chapters of the NorthWestNet Users
Service Internet Resource Guide.
Electronic Mail (or E-mail)
What is Electronic Mail?
Electronic mail (usually referred to as "e-mail") is the most basic service offered by computer networks.
E-mail is very similar to regular postal mail, except that it is sent electronically through a computer network and it
arrives much faster. With e-mail, you can send messages to anyone on a network, just like you can send a letter to
anyone who has a postal address.
The most exciting uses of e-mail in K-12 education are for communication and collaboration between and among
students and teachers at distant schools.
A Specific K-12 Application of Electronic Mail on the Internet
E-mail can be used to send messages to computers on the network which will automatically send back information
that you have requested. Such computers are called "mail servers."
For example, you can send mail to a computer service run by the Oregon Extension Service called "Almanac."
This resource contains a wide variety of educationally valuable materials such as "electronic books," and an
enormous amount of information from the Department of Agriculture. You can have this information sent to you
simply by sending an e-mail message request.
In this example, we'll send a message to Almanac, requesting a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Step 1. Start your mail program.
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Step 2. Address a message to the following Internet user-id and address. Note: If you are not on an Internet
computer, you will probably have to add additional information. Ask your colleagues if they know how to send
mail to the Internet from your site)
[email protected]
Step 3. You don't have to include anything in the subject line.
Step 4. In your mail editor, type the following message:
send guten dec-of-ind
where "guten" is short for "Project Gutenberg," a non-profit organization dedicated to creating free electronic
versions of the world's great literature, and "dec-of-ind" is the file name for the Declaration of Independence.
Step 5. Send the mail message.
Step 6. In a short while, you should receive e-mail from Almanac. If you did everything right, it will be a copy of
the Declaration of Independence! If you made a mistake, the e-mail message from Almanac will give you a hint
about what you did wrong and directions for how to send a correct request.
If you want more information about Almanac, you can send an e-mail message to Almanac containing one of the
following messages:
send guide
send topic catalog
(to get a copy of the Almanac Guide)
(to get a copy of Almanac's holdings)
Other Applications of Electronic Mail
E-mail is also used for accessing many of the network services described in the following sections of this
document, such as subscribing to electronic journals or participating in online discussion groups.
Online Library Catalogs
What Are Online Library Catalogs?
Online library catalogs (more precisely known as "Online Public Access Catalogs", or "OPACs" for short) are
electronic versions of library card catalogs. OPACs have been installed at hundreds of the world's libraries and
are generally free of charge for anyone with an Internet connection.
An Example K-12 Specific OPAC Application
As an example of the potential of the Internet to provide "real-time" access to remote knowledge bases and
informational resources, allow me to relate this personal episode. I was trying to compose text containing a K-12
specific OPAC application when I realized that I was just about to run through a good example while writing this
chapter.
I am word processing this document on a Macintosh SE at my home in Seattle. I need to find references on the
subject "distance education" for the bibliography, but it's 2 am, and all of the libraries in Seattle are closed. But
because I have an Internet connection through the University of Washington, I can connect to any one of 200
OPACs in the United States and do a literature search from my home.
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I've just entered the following command on my computer
telnet pac.carl.org
and in a few seconds I'm connected to the Colorado Association of Research Libraries (CARL) in Boulder,
Colorado, about 1,000 miles away from my house. Because I'm doing this through the Internet, I'm not being
charged a penny for the connection, nor was I charged for the connection I made to a database in England an hour
ago. The cost of these connection services are defrayed in part by the National Science Foundation and in part by
the dues and service fees paid by the members and partners of NorthWestNet.
CARL asks me what kind of terminal I'm using. To be certain that all of the NUSIRG examples work with the
simplest equipment, I'm purposely using a basic terminal emulation program. I select HARDCOPY, which is the
appropriate choice for "dumb" terminals without any fancy features.
An easy to use menu has appeared on my screen, and I've selected the library catalog option. CARL offers many
other interesting databases, but I don't have time to get distracted. The names of 21 libraries in the state of
Colorado appear on my screen, and I select the State Department of Education Catalog.
Now I'm given a number of options for the kind of search I want to do. I type "w" for "word", and then I type
"Distance Education." In two seconds, CARL tells me that it has found 16 books with the words "Distance
Education."
As it turns out, the very first reference in the list is one that someone in an online discussion group had asked
about earlier in the day. The person wasn't sure of the title, so I'm going to send them an e-mail message giving
them the full reference.
OPACS of Special Interest to K-12 Education
Every OPAC has something to offer K-12 education. Most of the best OPACs are only accessible through Internet
connection, although a few statewide networks have started providing OPAC services via modem connections. A
more complete discussion of OPACs is provided in Chapter 12 of NUSIRG.
File Archives
There are thousands of computers in the world which contain "file archives" from which files can be copied to
your computer for your own use.
K12Net Libraries
Very useful file archives for K-12 education are maintained in the "K12Net Libraries" throughout the world.
These K12Net libraries contain thousands of files on a wide variety of subjects including:
❏
❏
❏
educational software
course outlines and other material for curricular development
documents relating to education generally, including distance education and government publications
Document files can be used on most any kind of personal computer. Most of the software currently held in the
K12Net Library is for MS DOS based machines, but there are plans to start adding materials for other PC's such as
the Macintosh, Apple II's, and Amigas.
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To access the K12Net library, all you need is a phone, a modem, and a personal computer with simple
telecommuncations software. To locate the K12Net Library nearest you, get in touch with one of the K12Net
contacts listed in addendum 3.
Interactive Bulletin Board Services (BBSs)
Bulletin Board Services are computers which contain information, training, and files which you can copy for your
own use.
K12Net / FidoNet
All of the K12Net and Fidonet nodes are BBSs. To find the site nearest you, contact one of the main K12Net sites
listed in addendum 3.
National Public Telecommuncations Network BBSs
There are currently four NPTN sites which are accessible by modem calls or with the Internet TELNET protocol.
Cleveland Free-Net
modem:
telnet:
Cleveland, Ohio
(216) 368-3888
freenet-in-a.cwru.edu
freenet-in-b.cwru.edu
freenet-in-c.cwru.edu
Youngstown Free-Net
modem:
Youngstown, Ohio
(216) 742-3072
telnet: yfn.ysu.edu
TriState Online
modem:
telnet:
Cincinnati, Ohio
(513) 579-1990
tso.uc.edu
Heartland Free-Net
modem:
telnet:
Peoria, Illinois
(309) 674-1100
heartland.bradley.edu
NPTN plans to establish additional sites in the following communities: Buffalo; Chicago; Denver; Lorain County,
OH, Los Angeles; Minneapolis/St.Paul; Portland, OR; Philadelphia; Summit, NJ; Washington, D.C.; Helsinki,
Finland; Singapore; and Wellington, New Zealand.
Online Discussion Groups
Online discussion groups allow you to communicate with people throughout the world who share a specific
interest.
By having distinct names and limited scopes, discussion groups enable highly focused, topic-specific discourses.
So even though the worldwide networks are huge and used by people with many diverse interests, discussion
groups make the network world a more homey place.
Once you find groups which suit your needs, you can read material "posted" by other people, you can comment on
other people's postings, or you can contribute new messages to the group.
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There are many different discussion group services. These differ in how they work and in how they are named.
For details on how to use two widely used discussion group services, USENET and LISTSERV, consult Chapters
7 and 8 of NUSIRG.
K-12 Specific Discussion Groups
Because each discussion group service features a huge number of topic specific groups, it is sometime hard for
new users to know which groups are most likely to be useful. For example, the BITNET LISTSERV service
offers nearly 3,000 groups! To help get you started, Tables 1, 2 and 3 give a sampling of LISTSERV discussion
groups, Internet interest groups, and USENET newsgroups which are most likely to interest K-12 educators.
K-12 specific discussion groups are a great place to keep in touch with what other K-12 educators are doing with
computer networks. Many of these groups are often used like curriculum development meetings in a world-wide
school.
Use Tables 1, 2, and 3 as K-12 specific resources when you follow the detailed instructions on how to use
discussion group services in the earlier chapters of NUSIRG.
Electronic Journals
Electronic Journals are like regular magazines. They feature submitted articles which are reviewed, edited, and
placed in an organized format within a computer file. The big differences are that the journals are sent to your
computer and that you don't have to pay personally for your subscription.
Although the number of electronic journals is currently small, it has been predicted that their number and their
impact will expand greatly in the next few years.
An Example of How to Subscribe to an Electronic Journal
To subscribe to an electronic journal, you send an e-mail message to an Internet address. In some cases, the userid you are sending mail to is that of a real person, in which case you can write a regular English language letter
requesting a subscription. In other cases, you will be sending a message to a computer program which will read
your message and will expect the message to be of a very specific format.
For example, to subscribe to the "Distance Education Online Symposium" (which often features articles relevant
to applications of networks to K-12 education), you would send an e-mail message as follows:
mail: listserv%[email protected]
subject: (none needed)
SUB DEOS your-full-name
In less than a day, you should receive a message saying that you have been subscribed to this electronic journal
with information on how to obtain back issues by e-mail.
Once you have been subscribed, you will receive a copy of the journal once every month.
Electronic Journals of Special Interest to K-12 Education
Table 4 lists a number of electronic journals which are of potential interest to K-12 educators. Please refer to
Chapter 9 of NUSIRG for more information about Electronic Journals.
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Online Databases
There are several Internet accessible online databases which are of particular interest to K-12 educators. To use
these databases, you need to know how to use TELNET, which is explained in Chapter 5 of NUSIRG.
A large catalog of many other online databases is provided in Chapter 12 of NUSIRG.
PENpages: Contains online articles and brochures on agriculture, careers, health, consumer issues, and weather;
from The Pennsylvania State University. vt100 terminal emulation recommended.
Access:
telnet:
psupen.psu.edu
User-name: PNOTPA
e-mail:
[email protected]
Art Hussey, Assistant Director
Computer Services
Office of Administrative Services
The Pennsylvania State University
405 Agricultural Administration Building
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 863-3449
SPACELINK: A very easy to use database and interactive system containing information about NASA and NASA
activities. Includes a large number of possible curricular activities for elementary and secondary science classes.
A tremendously valuable resource for elementary and secondary science teachers.
Access:
telnet:
username:
password:
128.158.13.250
newuser
newuser
Supercomputer Training Opportunities for K-12 Students and Teachers
Several of the NSF sponsored supercomputer sites have established programs for K-12 students.
❏
❏
❏
Cornell National Supercomputer Facility
(607) 255-8686
National Center for Supercomputer Applications
(217) 244-1100
National Energy Research Supercomputer Center
(415) 422-1544
K-12 Network Etiquette
Just as we unconsciously internalize standards of etiquette in our everyday behavior, there are many issues of
network etiquette which may not be apparent to new users of network services, especially among K-12 students.
As Jack Crawford, one of the main forces behind "K12 Net," recently wrote, "the ability to keep our echoes
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animated, well behaved, and oriented toward K-12 curriculum increasingly depends upon the zealousness, energy
and skill of moderators."
Before starting a K-12 networking project with students, it would be wise to read some of the literature on
"network etiquette." Quarterman (1989 and 1990) provides a particularly good overview of the issues involved in
polite and ethical use of computer networks. Passages in Chapter 3 of NUSIRG, and references in that chapter
also deal with some of the etiquette issues involved in electronic mail communications specifically.
"Distance Education" Programs For K-12 Educators
There are numerous opportunities for K-12 educators and even students to enroll in courses at other institutions
around the world.
Such "Distance Education" programs are the electronic equivalent of "correspondence schools," but with a major
difference. "They often allow real time, interactive contact with instructors and other students via computer
networks with electronic mail or even two-way video.
Moore and Thomson (1990), Moore et al. (1990) discuss distance education generally. Information on specific
statewide programs for K-12 educators can be found in Kurshan (1990b). Very up-to-date information can be
obtained by subscribing to one of several LISTSERV discussion groups or electronic journals included in Tables 1
and 4.
For More Information On K-12 Networking
The best information on K-12 networking can be obtained by diving headlong into the active and exciting
discussions taking place on computer networks throughout the world. Several of these discussion groups have
been described in this chapter. Subscribe to some of the K12Net, USENET, and LISTSERV groups, and you will
be able to keep posted on collaborative projects of many sorts which will be best suited to your particular
educational curriculum.
Admittedly, this strategy presents a bit of a "bootstrapping" problem for those of you who do not yet have network
access, so here's a list of printed references, journals, and professional societies which are of special interest to K12 educators.
Books and Articles
Beals, D.E. 1991. "Computer mediated communication among beginning teachers." T.H.E. Journal, 18(9), 7477.
Carlitz, Robert D. 1991. "Common Knowledge: Networks for Kindergarten Through College." Educom Review
26(2):25-28.
Clement, John. 1990. "Networking for K-12 education: bringing everyone together." Available from Educom.
Kurshan, Barbara. 1990a. Home Market for Educational OnLine Services: Growth of Market and Strategies for
Expansion (available from the author; see contact information at end of addendum 2).
Kurshan, Barbara. 1990b. "Statewide Telecommunications Networks: An Overview of the Current State and the
Growth Potential." (available from the author; see contact information at end of addendum 2).
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Kurshan, Barbara. 1991. "Statewide Education Networks Survey Results." (available from the author; see contact
information at end of addendum 2).
Moore, M.G., Thompson, M.M. 1990. "The effects of distance learning: a summary of literature."
Pennsylvania State University.
Moore, M.G., Cookson,P. J. Donaldson, and Quigley, B.A. 1990. Contemporary issues in American distance
education, Pergamon Press, New York.
Phillips, G.M., Santoro, G.M., & Kuehn, S.A. 1988. "The use of computer--mediated communication in training
students in group problem-solving and decision-making techniques." American Journal of Distance Education,
2(1): 38-51.
Quarterman, J. S. 1989. "Etiquette and Ethics," ConneXions--The Interoperability Report 3(4):12-16.
Quarterman, J. S. 1990. "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide." Digital
Press, Bedford, MA.
Roberts, N., Blakeslee, G., Brown, M., and Lenk, C. 1990 . "Integrating Telecommunications into Education."
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall.
"Rural America at the Crossroads: "Networking for the Future." U.S. Congress Office of Technology
Assessment."April 1991. (S/N 052 003 0122806; available in government document repositories, or through your
legislator.
"Linking for Learning: "Computer-and-Communications Network Support for Nationwide Innovation in
Education." June 1991. The National Science Foundation's Directorate for Education and Human Resources.
Printed Journals
The following printed journals are particularly informative for K-12 educators using computer networks:
American Journal of Distance Education
Classroom Computer Learning
Computing Teacher
Educational Technology
EDUCOM Review
Electronic Learning
Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching
Learning Tomorrow
Research and Education Networking
T.H.E.Journal
University Computing Times
Periodic Conferences
CAUSE
Consortium for School Networking
EDUCOM
International Conferences on Technology and Education
International Council for Distance Education Conferences
International Symposia on Telecommunications and Education
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NorthWestNet
SHARE
USENIX
Organization
EDUCOM
1112 16th Street, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
phone: (202) 872-4200.
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TABLE 1: LISTSERV DISCUSSION GROUPS RELEVANT TO K-12 EDUCATORS AND
STUDENTS
For more information on using LISTSERV, please refer to Chapter 8 of NUSIRG.
NOTE: The BITNET addresses listed below need to be modified and expanded to be used on other networks. For
example here's how you would address a message to KIDCAFE from the Internet:
kidcafe%[email protected]
The underlined portion could be added to any of the names below. Notice also that there is a "%" between kidcafe
and ndsuvm1, instead of an "@" sign. For more information on why this modification of BITNET addresses is
necessary and how it works, refer to passages in Chapter 3 of NUSIRG which deal with electronic mail gateways.
List
Name
BITNET
address
General Topic Area, and Brief Description of List
Student Oriented Lists
KIDCAFE
KIDS-ACT
SCOUTS-L
SEAC-L
SGANET
@
@
@
@
@
NDSUVM1
NDSUVM1
NDSUVM1
UNCVX1
VTVM1
KIDCAFE Youth dialog
KIDS-ACT What can I do now?
Youth groups including Boy and Girl Scouts, etc.
Student environmental activism
Student government global mail network
Education Oriented Lists
EDNET6-L
KIDPLAN
KIDS-92
K12STCTE
RESPONSE
VT-HSNET
@
@
@
@
@
@
IUBV1
NDSUVM1
NDSUVM1
BITNIC
NDSUVM1
VTVM1
K-12 Network Management Plan
KIDPLAN KIDS-92 Planning
KIDS-92 Project List
K-12 Steering Committee
Response to KIDS-92
VT K-12 School Network
Hobbies and Recreation
CHESS-L
DJ-L
GAMES-L
SCUBA-L
SHOGI-L
@
@
@
@
@
GREARN
NDSUVM1
BROWNV1
GUV1
TECHNION
Chess discussion and organization of tournaments
Campus radio DJ's technical discussion
Computer games of any sort
All aspects of scuba diving
Strategic board game, Shogi
Subject-Specific Lists Relevant to K12 Education
BIOSPH-L
CHEMED-L
CW-L
DISARM-L
FILM-L
@
@
@
@
@
UBV1
UWF
TTUVM1
ALBNYVM1
VMTECMEX
Anything relevant to planetary ecology
Chemistry education
Computers and writing
Discussion of global disarmament
Film; art, entertainment, techniques equipment
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HISTORY
INTERCUL
LITERA-L
LITERARY
LLTI
MARINE-L
MCLR
MULTI-L
MUSIC-ED
NATIVE-L
PEACE
PHYSHARE
RURALDEV
SAIS-L
SCIMATHL
SCREEN-L
SHAKSPER
SPORTPSY
TECHED-L
TESL-L
URBAN-L
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
UBV1
RPIECS
TECMTYV1
UCF1V1
DARTCMS1
UOGUELPH
MSU
BARILV1
UMINN1
TAMVM1
INDYCMS
PSUV1
KSUV1
UNBVM1
PSUV1
UA1V1
UTORONTO
TEMPLEV1
PSUV1
CUNYV1
TREARN
192
(Peered) History discussion list
Study of intercultural communication
Literature in English & Spanish
Discussions about literature
Language learning and technology international
Marine studies / shipboard education
Midwest consortium for Latino research
Language and education in multilingual settings
Music education
Issues pertaining to aboriginal people
Peace studies
Sharing resources for high school physics
Community and rural economic development
Science awareness and promotion
Science, math and engineering education
Discussion of TV from a pedagogical perspective
International electronic Shakespeare conference
Exercise and sports psychology
Employment, training and literacy issues
Teaching English as a second language
Urban planning information exchange
Special Education / Talented and Gifted Education
BEHAVIOR
BLIND-L
COMMDIS
DEAF-L
EDINFO-L
L-HCAP
SPCEDS-L
TAG-L
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
ASUACAD
UAFSYSB
RPIECS
SIUCVMB
IUBV1
NDSUVM1
UBV1
NDSUVM1
Behavioral and emotional disorders in children
Computer use by and for the blind
Speech disorders
Deaf list
Educational information
Technology for handicapped, funding info, etc.
SUNY/Buffalo special education (students)
Talented and gifted education
Teacher Oriented Lists
BIOPI-L
TEACHEFT
@ KSUV1
@ WCU
Secondary biology teacher enhancement
Teaching effectiveness
Educational Uses of Computers and Networks
CNEDUC-L
CNIDIR-L
CONFER-L
COSNDISC
DEOS-L
DEOSNEWS
DISTED
EDTECH
EDUTEL
ETDIR-L
MEDIA-L
PACS-L
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
TAMVM1
UNMV1
NCSUV1
BITNIC
PSUV1
PSUV1
UWAV1
OHSTVMA
RPIECS
UBV1
BINGVMB
UHUPVM1
Computer networking and education, esp. K-12
Coalition for Networked Information
Academic interactive conferencing
Consortium for School Networking
The Distance Education Online Symposium
The Distance Education Online Symposium
Journal of Distance Ed. and Communication
Educational technology
Education and information technologies
Educational technology research & development
Educational communications for media services
Public-access computer systems forum
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SCIT-L
@ QUCDN
193
Studies in communication and info. technology
Software for Education
ACSOFT-L
PCSERV-L
@ WUVMD
@ RPIECS
Academic software development
Public domain software servers
Hardware and Operating System Oriented Lists
APPLE2-L
COCO
COMMODOR
I-AMIGA
I-IBMPC
IBMPC-L
INFO-APP
INFO-MAC
INFO-PC
MAC-L
MACMAIL
MACNET-L
MACPROG
MACSYSTM
NEXT-L
PC-EVAL
PC-L
PCSUPT-L
PCTECH-L
PROG-A16
SHOPTALK
SOFTREVU
SYS7-L
WIN3-L
WORD-MAC
WORD-PC
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
@
BROWNV1
PUCC
UBV1
UTORONTO
UIUCVMD
UGA
NDSUVM1
UIUCVMD
IRLEARN
YALEV1
UTORONTO
YALEV1
WUVMD
DARTCMS1
BROWNV1
IRLEARN
UFRJ
YALEV1
TREARN
UOGUELPH
MCGILL1
BROWNV1
UAFSYSB
UICV1
HVRFORD
HVRFORD
Apple II List
Tandy color computer List
Commodore computers discussion
(Peered) Info-Amiga List
IBM PC discussions
(Peered) INFO-IBMPC Digest
Apple II series user's mailing list
(Peered) INFO-MAC Digest
Distribution of Info-IBMPC
Macintosh news and information
MAC Mail
Macintosh networking issues
Macintosh programming
Advice about Macintosh operating system
(Peered) NeXT computer list
Personal Computer evaluation
(Peered) Forum IBM PC
Discussion for MS-DOS PC technical support staff
MS-DOS compatibles support group
INFO-ATARI16 Programs
Micro Computer Users Forum
Small computing systems software review
Macintosh System 7.0
Microsoft Windows and related issues
Microsoft Word for the Macintosh
Microsoft Word for DOS and Windows
Networking Hardware and Software
3-COM-L
I-KERMIT
PCIP
PROCOM-L
TCP-IP-L
@
@
@
@
@
NUSV1
CUVMA
IRLEARN
ATSUVAX1
UIUCVMD
3-Com users interest group
(Peered) INFO-KERMIT Digest
TCP/IP protocol implementations for PC
Users of Procomm terminal emulators
TCP-IP discussion from SRI-NIC
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TABLE 2: INTEREST GROUPS OF POTENTIAL VALUE TO K-12 AUDIENCES
To subscribe to one of these groups, send an e-mail message to a special subscription user-id, which is made by
adding "-request" to the discussion group's user-id. For example, to subscribe to:
[email protected]
send e-mail to
[email protected]
in the body of your message, indicate that you would like to be subscribed to the group.
A wide variety of many other online databases is provided in Chapter 12 of NUSIRG.
Subscription List Name and Address
Specific Subjects Covered
K-12 Networking Generally
[email protected]
[email protected]
Global network for kids and teachers
Applications of artificial
intelligence to education
Technical Issues
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
8 and 16 bit CP/M operating system
modem discussion
Discussion on TCP/IP for PCs
Hobby or Recreation Oriented
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
stagecraft%[email protected]
[email protected]
Bicycle sports and use
Small ensemble brass musicians
Collection and trading of
sports cards/memorabilia
Horse enthusiasts
Theatre sets, lighting, etc.
Whitewater kayaking, rafting
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TABLE 3: POINTERS TO USENET GROUPS AND CATEGORIES OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO
K-12 EDUCATORS
There are thousands of USENET newsgroups. First time users of USENET often become overwhelmed by the
diversity and are unable to find what groups are appropriate to their interests.
To help you get started, this list provides a small sampler of a few specific groups and of the hierarchy that might
be of particular interest to K-12 educators. Once you've become comfortable with newsreader software and the
structure of USENET, there's a huge variety of newsgroups to explore and read.
For information on how to actually use USENET, refer to Chapter 7 of NUSIRG. Note that the first section ("K12 Lists Distributed From K12Net to USENET") are all accessible directly by accessing K12Net BBS's.
K-12 Lists Distributed From K12Net to USENET
k12.chat.elementary
k12.chat.junior
k12.chat.senior
k12.chat.teacher
k12.ed.art
k12.ed.business
k12.ed.comp.literacy
k12.ed.health-pe
k12.ed.life-skills
k12.ed.math
k12.ed.music
k12.ed.science
k12.ed.soc-studies
k12.ed.special
k12.ed.tag
k12.ed.tech
k12.lang.art
k12.lang.deutsch-eng
k12.lang.esp-eng
k12.lang.francais
k12.lang.russian
Informal discussion, elementary students, K-5.
Informal discussion, students in grades 6-8.
Informal discussion, high school students.
Informal discussion, K-12 teachers.
Art curriculum in K-12 education.
Business education curriculum in grades K-12.
Teaching computer literacy in grades K-12.
Health and Physical Education in grades K-12.
Home Economics & Career education, grades K-12.
Mathematics curriculum in K-12 education.
Music and Performing Arts curriculum in K-12.
Science curriculum in K-12 education.
Social Studies and History curriculum in K-12.
Education for students w/ handicaps or special needs.
Education for Talented And Gifted students.
Industrial Arts, vocational education, K-12.
Language Arts curriculum in K-12 education.
Bilingual German/English with native speakers.
Bilingual Spanish/English with native speakers.
Bilingual French/English with native speakers.
Bilingual Russian/English with native speakers.
A Sampling of Other USENET Newsgroups of Potential Interest to K-12
bionet.general
comp.dcom.modems
misc.consumers
misc.consumers.house
misc.education
misc.kids
misc.rural
misc.writing
news.announce.newusers
news.answers
news.newusers.questions
news.software.readers
sci.edu
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Major USENET Newsgroup Hierarchies
bit.listserv.*
comp.*
rec.*
sci.*
soc.culture.*
Each of these "hierarchies" in this list of five contain numerous, very specific newsgroups which you may find
interesting. For example, within "sci.*" are groups such as "sci.biology"and "sci.geo.meteorology". (The asterisk
is standard computer shorthand for "this space might be occupied by much more text.")
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TABLE 4: ELECTRONIC JOURNALS OF POSSIBLE VALUE TO K-12 EDUCATORS
Currents:
The use of computing in education.
subscription: jebell%[email protected]
Distance Education Online
Symposium (DEOS)
Distance education; many articles on K-12 issues.
subscriptions: listserv%[email protected]
message: SUB DEOS your-full-name
To cancel a subscription, send mail to the same
address, message UNSUB DEOS your-full-name.
Effector Online:
Computer based communication, esp. issues of freedom of speech,
privacy, censorship, and policy
subscription: [email protected]
Ejournal:
An electronic journal about electronic journals
subscription: listserv%[email protected]
message: SUB EJRNL your-full-name
To cancel a subscription, e-mail to the same address, message
UNSUB EJRNL your-full-name
F.A.S.T. News:
Articles, bibliographies, job listings, etc. on arts, science and
technology.
subscription: [email protected]
Handicap Digest:
Issues dealing with the handicapped.
subscription: [email protected]
via modem: Handicap News BBS
(203) 337-1607 (300, 1200 and 2400 baud)
(Fidonet 1:/141/420)
Compuserve 73170,1064
History and Analysis of
Disabilities Newsletter:
News, and announcements of conferences, seminars, books,
articles, theses, research, organizations dealing with the
historical study of disabilities.
subscription: fcty7310%[email protected]
Impact Online:
Social & ethical concerns of information technology
subscription: [email protected]
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ADDENDUM 1A: CONTACTS FOR REGIONAL INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
Network
Name
Service Locale
Contact Name
Phone Number
E-mail Address
BARRNET
Bay Area, CA
William Yundt
(415) 723-3104
[email protected]
CERFnet
Los Angeles Area, CA
CERFnet Hotline
(800) 876-2373
[email protected]
CICnet
Midwest US
John Hankins
(313) 998-6102
[email protected]
CO Supernet
CO
Ken Harmon
(303) 273-3475
[email protected]
CONCERT
NC
Joe Ragland
(919) 248-1404
[email protected]
JVNCNet
Eastern US and International
Sergio Heker
(609) 258-2400
[email protected]
Los Nettos
Los Angeles Area
Ann Westine
(213) 822-1511
[email protected]
MichNet/Merit
MI
Jeff Ogden
(313) 764-9430
[email protected]
MIDnet
NE
Dale Finkelson
(402) 472-5032
[email protected]
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MRNet
MN
Dennis Fazio
(612) 342-0003\
[email protected]
NEARnet
Northeastern US (ME, NH, VT, CT, RI, MA)
John Rugo
(617) 873-2935
[email protected]
NETillinois
IL
George Badger
(217) 333-1637
[email protected]
NevadaNet
NV
Jim Williams
(702) 739-3557
[email protected]
NorthWestNet
Northwestern US (AK, ID, MT, ND, OR,
WA, WY)
Eric Hood
(206) 562-3000
[email protected]
NYSERNet
NY
Jim Luckett
(315) 443-4120
[email protected]
OARnet
OH
Alison Brown
(614) 292-8100
[email protected]
PREPnet
PE
Thomas Bajzek
(412) 268-7870
[email protected]
PSCNET
PE, OH, WV (Supercomputer)
Eugene Hastings
(412) 268-4960
[email protected]
Sesquinet
TX
Farrell Gerbode
(713) 527-4988
[email protected]
199
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SDSCnet
San Diego Area (Supercomputer)
Paul Love
(619) 534-5043
[email protected]
SURAnet
Southeastern US + Territories
Jack Hahn
(301) 982-4600
[email protected]
TENET
TX
Tracy LaQuey Parker
(512) 471-5046
[email protected]
VERnet
VA
James Jokl
(804) 924-0616
[email protected]
WESTNET
Western US (AZ, CO, ID, NM, UT, WY)
Pat Burns
(303) 491-7260
[email protected]
WiscNet
WI
Tad Pinkerton
(608) 262-8874
[email protected]
WVNET
WV
Harper Grimm
(304) 293-5192
[email protected]
200
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ADDENDUM 1B: CONTACTS FOR COMMERCIAL INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
AlterNet
US and International
(703) 876-5050
[email protected]
ANS
US and International
Joel Maloff
(313) 663-7610
[email protected]
PSInet
US and International
PSI, Inc.
(703) 620-6651
[email protected]
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ADDENDUM 2: STATEWIDE EDUCATION NETWORKS AND CONTACTS
This addendum is used by permission from a report entitled "Statewide Education Networks Survey Results"
prepared by Barbara Kurshan and Marcia Harrington. Their contact information appears at the end of this
document.
In addition to contacts for particular state networks (indicated by BOLD print names), this list also includes the
contact information for many other organizations or individuals who provided information about statewide
networks for Kurshan and Harrington's report. These may be useful resources for your inquiries about state
networking.
Note that the survey was completed in January, 1991. Consequently some of the contact information may have
changed, especially in light of the rate at which state networks are evolving.
NETWORK CONTACT LIST BY STATE
ALABAMA
--Ron Wright
Alabama DOE
3317 Gordon Persons Bldg
Montgomery, AL 36130
205/242-8071
SDENET
Rex C. Jones
Alabama DOE
5327 Gordon Persons Bldg
Montgomery, AL 36130
205/242-9590
ALASKA
UACN
Mike Cinij
UAS
11120 Glacier Hway
Juneau, AK 99801
907/789-4570
UACN
Cathy Carney
Alaska DOE
Box F
Juneau, AK 99811-0500
907/465-2841
ARIZONA
Arizona EdLink
John Cikalo
EdLink
1900 W Thomas Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85015
602/255-5061
--Kathryn Kilroy
Arizona DOE
1535 W Jefferson
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602/542-5024
CALIFORNIA
--Vince Madden
California DOE
721 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA 95814
--Barbara O'Connor
Educ. Techn. Commiss.
Univ of CA at Sacramento
Sacramento, CA
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916/445-0775
916/278-6415
--Diane Rude
Econ. Dev., Trade & Technology
1100 J Street, Suite 404
Sacramento, CA 95814
916/445-4591
CSUNET
Craig Blurton
California Techn Project
PO Box 3842
Seal Beach, CA 90740
213/985-9631
203
COLORADO
--Karen Sanstead
Business/Education Partnerships
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203
303/866-2471
Colorado Learning Network
Eric Feder
Colorado DOE
207 Colfax Ave
Denver, CO 80203
303/866-6859
CONNECTICUT
--Linda Naimi
Connecticut DOE
165 Capitol Ave
Hartford, CT O6106
203/566-4987
--Sigmund Abeless
Connecticut DOE
165 Capitol Ave
Hartford, CT O6106
203/566-4825
Knowledge Network
Betty Goyette
--165 Capitol Ave
Hartford, CT O6106
203/566-6660
SNET
Thomas Buckley
SNET
227 Church
New Haven, CT 06506
---
DELAWARE
University of Delaware
William J. Geppert
Dept of Public Instr
Townsend Bldg
Dover, DE 19901
302/739-4888
--Thomas F. Brennan
Dept of Public Instr
Townsend Bldg
Dover, DE 19903
302/739-3721
FLORIDA
SUNSTAR & FIRN
Bill Schmid
Florida DOE
B1-14 Florida Educ Center
Tallahassee, FL 32399
904/487-0911
--David Brittain
Florida DOE
Knott Bldg
Tallahassee, FL 32301
904/488-0980
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GEORGIA
GEIS
Les Butler
Georgia DOE
205 Butler Street
Atlanta, GA 30306
404/656-2435
GC EduNET
Frank Lowney
School of Education
Georgia College
Milledgeville, GA 31061
912/453-4546
HAWAII
PLATO
Jon Nakasone
Comp Center Keller Hall
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, HI 96822
808/956-2409
--James Bannan
Hawaii DOE, Dist. Learning Techn
1302 Queen Emma St Rm 204
Honolulu, HI 96813
808/548-6990
Hawaii Intact. TV System
C J Baehr
Hawaii Public TV
2350 Dole St
Honolulu, HI 96822
808/955-7878
IDAHO
Northwest Star Schools
Ken Reed
Idaho DOE
650 W State
Boise, ID 83720
208/334-2166
INDIANA
KnowledgeNet
Michael Huffman
Educational Info. Systems
Room 229 State House
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2798
317/232/0808
IDEANet
Michael Huffman
Educational Info. Systems
Room 229 State House
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2798
317/232-0808
IHETS
Mark D. Commons
Intelenet Commission
17 W Market Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
317/685-8990
Electronic School District
Michael Halla
ESD
1000 E 17th St
Bloomington, IN 47405
812/855-2222
UNI
IOWA Communications Network
IOWA
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Bill Callahan
College of Education
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0615
319/273-2719
205
Dean Crocker
Communications Division
Hoover State Office Bldg
Des Moines, IA 50319
515/242-6152
KANSAS
--Denise Moore
Kansas DOE
120 E 10th St
Topeka, KS 66612
913/296-1230
KENTUCKY
KET
Lydia Wells Sledge
Kentucky DOE
1825 Capital Plaza Tower
Frankfort, KY 40601
502/564-2672
MAINE
Community College of Maine
Pamela MacBrayne
University of Maine @ Augusta
University Heights
Augusta, ME O4330
207/622-7131
--Richard Riley
Maine DOE
Mail Sta. 23, Educ Bldg
Augusta, ME O4333
207/289-5815
MENET (MaineNet)
Blynn C. Currier
Maine DOE
University of Maine Augusta
Augusta, ME 04333
207/621-0903
MASSACHUSETTS
MASSNet
Ann Von der Lippe
MASSNet
6 St James Avenue
Boston, MA O2120
617/727-9500 413/545-1955
UMASS Campus Network
Randy Sailer
University of Mass
239 Whitmore Admin Bldg
Amherst, MA O1003
MICHIGAN
Michigan Comm. College Network
Michigan Info. Tech Network
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Connie Julius
Michigan Comm. College Assoc
2100 Michigan National Tower
Lansing, MI 48933
517/372-4350
--Dan Schultz
Michigan DOE
PO Box 30008
Lansing, MI 58909
---
206
Brian Raymond
--4660 S Hagadorn
East Lansing, MI 48823
517/336-1321
--Jamey Fitzpatrick
Michigan DOE
PO Box 30008
Lansing, MI 58909
517/373-1806
MINNESOTA
MNSAT (Satellite & Technology)
Penelope L. Dickhudt
State Board of Voc. & Techn. Ed
130 Capitol Sq Bldg 550 Cedar
St Paul, MN 55101
612/296-2256
--Joan Wallin
Minnesota DOE
660 Capitol Sq Bldg 550 Cedar
St Paul, MN 55101
612/296-1570
--Robert Price
Control Data Corp
8100 34th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55425
---
MISSISSIPPI
--Pat Teski
--102 Waterwood Drive
Brandon, MS 39042
601/359-3778
MONTANA
National Diffusion Network
Ron Luckenbill
Montana DOE, Public Instr.
State Capitol
Helena, MT 59620
406/444-2080
Big Sky Telegraph
Frank Odasz
Western Montana College
Box 11
Dillon, MT 59725
406/683-7338
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NEBRASKA
NEB-SAT
Wayne Fisher
Nebraska DOE Techn Center
301 Centennial Mall So
Lincoln, NE 68509
402/471-2918
SERC, NEB-SAT
Melodee Landis
Nebraska DOE
PO Box 94987
Lincoln, NE 68509
402/471-2918
NEVADA
--Frank South
Nevada DOE
400 W King Street
Carson City, NV 89710
702/687-3136
NEW HAMPSHIRE
--Bob Ross
--PO Box 1100
Durham, NH 03824
603/868-1100
NEW JERSEY
Educational Technology Network
Ted Smorodin
New Jersey DOE
225 W State Street, CN500
Trenton, NJ O8625
609/984-1805
NEW MEXICO
--Kurt Steinhaus
New Mexico DOE
Education Bldg
Santa Fe, NM 87501-2786
505/827-3806
--Mary Jane Vinella
New Mexico DOE
Education Bldg
Santa Fe, NM 87501-2786
505/827-6569
Technet/Nedcomm
Art St. George
CIRT
Univ of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
505/277-8046
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NEW YORK
Technology Network Ties (TNT)
Denis Martin
NY DOE
Room 860 EBA
Albany, NY 12234
--Steve Kidder
NY DOE
University of State of NY
Albany, NY 12234
518/486-6074
New York Network
--William Halligan
NY DOE
Public Broad. Prog.
518/474-5862
--Michael S Radlick
NY State DOE
Elem. & Sec. Educ. Plan
Albany, NY 12234
518/473-9106
Greg Benson
New York Network
AE Smith Bldg, 12th Floor
Albany, NY 12225
518/443-5333
NORTH CAROLINA
NCDLS Network
Linda K. DeGrand
NC Dept of Public Instr
116 W Edenton St
Raleigh, NC 27603-1712
919/733-3193
NCDLS Network
Elsie L. Brumback
NC Dept of Public Instr
116 W Edenton St
Raleigh, NC 27603-1712
919/733-3170
NORTH DAKOTA
Higher Education Computer Network
(HECN)
Larry Isaak
Vice-Chancellor for Administration
State Capitol
600 E Boulevard
Bismarck, ND 58505-0154
701/224-2960
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OHIO
--Irene Bandy-Hedden
Ohio Board of Education
65 South Front St
Columbus, OH 43266-0708
614/466-3708
--Donna Boylan
Ohio Board of Education
65 South Front St
Columbus, OH 43266-0708
614/466-2329
Ohio Educ. Computer Network
Herb Van Dyke
Ohio DOE
180 E Engler St
Columbus, OH 43266-0552
614/466-7000
Ohio Educ. Computer Network
Gene Miltko
Ohio DOE, Computing Serv
180 E Engler
Columbus, OH 43266-0552
614/466-7003
Ohio Educational Broadcasting
Blan Fuller
Ohio Educational Broadcasting
2470 North Star Road
Columbus, OH 43221
614/644-1714
OKLAHOMA
Televised Instruction System
Robert F. Parker
OK State Regents
500 Educ Bldg, State Capitol
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405/524-9160
OREGON
OR EdNet
Ray Lewis
Oregon ED-NET
7140 SW Macadam, Suite 260
Portland, OR 97219-3013
503/293-1992
OR EdNet
James W. Sanner
Oregon DOE
--Salem, OR 97310
503/378-6405
PENNSYLVANIA
PENN*LINK
Ann P. Witmer
PA DOE
333 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333
717/787-1831
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RHODE ISLAND
--Kenneth R. DiPietro
RI DOE
22 Hayes Street
Providence, RI 02908
401/277-2821
SOUTH CAROLINA
SCNET
Kemble Oliver
University of South Carolina
Center for Computers & Writing
Columbia, SC 29208
803/777-5992
SERC-SC
Bob Reese
SC DOE
206 Rutledge Bldg
Columbia, SC 29201
803/734-8090
SOUTH DAKOTA
SD Public TV & Radio Networks
Doris Spicer
SD Public Broadcasting
Box 5000
Vermillion, SD 57069
605/677-5861
TENNESSEE
--Betty Latture
Tennessee DOE
Cordell Hull Bldg
Nashville, TN 37219
615/741-0874
TEXAS
TEA-NET
Connie Stout
Texas Education Agency
1701 N Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701
512/463-9091
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UTAH
EDNET & UT Network for Inst TV
Dale Steadman
Utah DOE
250 East 500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84060
801/538-7947
--Helen Lacy
101 Gardner Hall
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
801/581-5852
VERMONT
Vermont Interactive TV
Judith Hastings
VT Techn College
PO Box 500
Montpelier, VT O5061
802/728-3391
Vermont Ed-Net
Alan Kousen
Vermont DOE
120 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05620
802/828-3111
VIRGINIA
VA.PEN
Glen Bull
Curry School of Education
405 Emmett Street
Charlottesville, VA 22901-2495
804/924-7471
VA.PEN
Cameron Harris
VA DOE
Info. Serv., P.O. Box 6Q
Richmond, VA 23216-2060
804/225-2757(2099)
WASHINGTON
STEP/Star Schools
Cheryl Lemke
OSPI
Old Capitol Bldg., FG-11
Olympia, WA 98504
206/586-2053
WEST VIRGINIA
--Brenda Williams
WV DOE
1800 Washington St E
Charleston, WV 25305
304/348-2691
SATNET
Bobbi Nicholson
SATNET
P.O. Box 707
Institute, WV 25112
304/766-2070
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WISCONSIN
--Larry Dickerson
WI Educational Communic. Board
3319 West Beltline Hwy.
Madison, WI 53713
608/273-5501
STS/CDN
Jody McCann
Info. & Telecomm. Mgt
P.O. Box 7844
Madison, WI 53707-7844
608/266-6700
CANADA
W. Leigh Hull
Alberta Educ Response Center
6240 113th Street
Edmonton, Alberta T6H-362
403/422-6326
Anton Ljutic
Champlain College
900 Riverside Dr
St Lambert, Quebec
J4P-3P2
We'd like to thank the following two people for allowing us to include the contact information, which they
compiled, in this addendum.
Barbara Kurshan
mail:
e-mail:
phone:
4940 Buckhorn Road, Roanoke, VA 24014
kurshan%[email protected]
kurshan@vtvm1
B.KURSHAN
71420,3512
(703) 774-0193
(Internet)
(BITNET)
(Applelink)
(CompuServe)
Marcia Harrington
mail:
e-mail:
5949 Village Lane, Roanoke, VA 24019
marciah%[email protected]
marciah@vtvm1
(Internet)
(BITNET)
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ADDENDUM 3: COOPERATIVE NOT-FOR-PROFIT NETWORK PROVIDERS
FrEdMail Foundation
FrEdMail Foundation
P.O. Box 243
Bonita, CA
91908-0243
contact:
e-mail:
phone:
Al Rogers
[email protected] (Internet)
(619) 475-4852
K12Net Council (board of directors)
Gordon Benedict
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Voice phone: 403/228-0975; 229-9731
Sysop of 1:134/49 (403/228-9525 HST 403/229-0477 2400)
UCAEDU.BITNET!BENEDICT
K12Net Zone 1 Backbone
Jack Crawford, W-FL Teacher Resource Center
3501-K County Rd. 20,
Stanley, NY 14561 USA.
Voice phone: 716/526-6431
Sysop of 1:260/620 (716/526-6495)
Internet: [email protected]
K12Net Zone 1 Backbone
Janet Murray, Wilson High School
1151 S.W. Vermont St.
Portland, OR, 97219 USA.
Voice phone: 503/280-5280
Sysop of: 1:105/23 (503/245-4961)
Internet: [email protected]
K12Net Zone 1 Backbone
Rob Reilly, Lanesboro School
188 Summer St.
Lanesboro, MA 01237 USA.
Voice phone: 413/443-0027
Sysop of 1:321/218 (413/443-6725)
Internet: [email protected]
K12Net Files Library
Gleason Sackmann
Box 5164
NDSU Computer Center
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Fargo, ND 58105 USA
Voice phone: 701/237-8109
Fax: 701/237-8541
Internet: [email protected]
Sysop of 1:288/5 (701/228-2908)
K12Net Echo Moderator Coordinator
Mort Sternheim, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003 USA
Voice phone: 413/545-1908 (W)
413/253-2252 (H)
Sysop of 1:321/109 (413/256-1037)
K12Net Zone 1 Backbone
Andy Vanduyne
Norwood Elementary School
Norwood, NY 13668 USA
Voice phone: 315/353-6674
Sysop of 1:260/375 (315/353-4565)
K12Net Channel Coordinator
National Public Telecommunications Network
T.M. Grundner, Ed.D
President, NPTN
Box 1987
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Voice:
Internet:
BITNET:
CompuServe:
(216) 368-2733
[email protected]
aa001%[email protected]
72135,1536
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SECTION 6: EMPOWERING SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
Chapter 16: Using Supercomputers on the Internet ................................................................ 217
Using Supercomputers ............................................................................................. 217
Supercomputers: Growth and Future ........................................................................ 217
Supercomputers--Always a Need.............................................................................. 218
Supercomputer Sites................................................................................................. 218
The NSF Backbone .................................................................................................. 218
Supercomputer Hardware......................................................................................... 219
Supercomputer Software .......................................................................................... 221
Supercomputer Performance Gains .......................................................................... 221
Performance Gains Through Specialized Hardware.................................................. 222
Interaction with Optimizing Compilers .................................................................... 225
Migrating Program to Supercomputers ..................................................................... 229
Administrative Access.............................................................................................. 227
Supercomputer Glossary .......................................................................................... 227
Supercomputer References....................................................................................... 228
Chapter 17: Supercomputer Site Descriptions ........................................................................ 230
CORNELL NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTER FACILITY (CNSF) ......................... 231
NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH (NCAR)...................... 236
NATIONAL CENTER FOR SUPERCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS (NCSA) ......... 240
NATIONAL ENERGY RESEARCH SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER (NERSC) ...... 247
PITTSBURGH SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER (PSC) .......................................... 251
SAN DIEGO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER (SDSC).............................................. 259
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Chapter 16: Using Supercomputers on the
Internet
USING SUPERCOMPUTERS
One of the primary purposes of many parts of the American portion of the Internet (particularly
NSFNET) is to provide researchers easy access to supercomputing resources at a number of centralized
supercomputer sites. This chapter provides an introduction to the basic principles of supercomputer use
and includes detailed site descriptions for a number of the NSF-sponsored supercomputer facilities
accessible through the Internet.
SUPERCOMPUTERS: GROWTH AND FUTURE
One of the most amazing phenomena of recent times has been the growth of the computer industry from a
laboratory curiosity at the end of World War II to a major player in the economies of the world today,
followed by rapid penetration into nearly all areas of life. The growth has been accomplished through
extraordinary reductions in size and cost, and improvements in speed, reliability, and usability.
Not long ago a new class of computers has emerged: supercomputers. By one definition supercomputers
are "At any given time, that class of general-purpose computers that are both faster than their commercial
competitors and have sufficient central memory to store the problem sets for which they are designed"
[1]. By this definition, it might appear that supercomputers have been with us from the start, and differ
only quantitatively from other computers. In fact, supercomputers are qualitatively different in that they
employ different architectures which result in major differences in programming and use.
According to the report "A National Computing Initiative" [2] the American research community will
require a thousand-fold increase in computational power over the next few years. This growth is
propelled by factors which are likely to exist for a long time to come.
One reason is the dramatic change in international economic competition. Since World War II many
countries, especially in Eastern Asia, have entered into the economic mainstream armed with a powerful
combination of Western technology and indigenous cultural backgrounds. These countries are redefining
many economic and industrial roles and are putting severe pressure on the American economy.
Technological innovation, especially in leading-edge fields such as computers, is viewed as a major way
to help our competitive stature.
Another reason is that computers are assuming new roles. Computation is now recognized as the third
mode of science, co- equal with theory and laboratory research [2]. Simulation of complex real world
phenomena is increasingly possible and indeed necessary for future advance: investigations of very large
(galaxies), very small (electron orbits), very fast, very slow, very complex, dangerous, or highly energetic
phenomena are often possible only through simulation. Computers can also provide "impossible views"
of objects under conditions which can never be obtained physically.
Finally, human activities are causing changes in the natural world: developments such as pollution, the
destruction of rain forests, ozone depletion, and the greenhouse effect, require extensive monitoring and
modelling which would be impossible without the computational and data management capabilities of
supercomputers.
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SUPERCOMPUTERS--ALWAYS A NEED
The enormous progress in computer hardware will result in a "desk-top-CRAY" in the near future. With
such powerful personal computers will we still need supercomputers? The answer appears to be yes.
However powerful PC's become, there will always be problems which strain the leading edge of whatever
computational powers we develop. The objects of study of disciplines such as mathematics (especially
combinatorial problems), and the physical, biological and social sciences are infinitely complex, and
computer simulations can never exhaust analytical possibilities. Many simulations today scrape by with
the coarsest possible resolution in the hope that important details are not neglected. Increased resolution
can come only at great computational cost: for example, a ten-fold increase in spatial resolution in each
of 3 dimensions translates into a thousand-fold increase in computational operations. Naturally, manydimensional problems would require much greater increases. The combined requirements of
computational power, data storage, and data flow should insure the continued need for supercomputer
sites.
SUPERCOMPUTER SITES
By their very nature, supercomputers are expensive and require extensive hardware, software,
documentation, and personnel support in order to function. Vast computational performance must be
matched by massive data storage capacities, large data flows, high resolution output devices, an extensive
communications interface, as well as a wealth of software applications, libraries, documentation, and
expert consulting.
A number of supercomputer sites are currently promoted as national research centers. They are focal
points for the collection and distribution of software, documentation, and extensive sets of examples; for
training programs, seminars, and symposiums for high-performance graphics laboratories for
visualization; and communication facilities in the form of e-mail, lists, and bulletin boards for specialized
user groups.
The wealth of different services available at supercomputer sites implies that you should shop carefully in
order to locate a site which best matches your needs. The types of software (editors, languages,
packages, and operating systems), hardware (memory size and structure, vector and parallel hardware),
and services (graphic output, type of consulting) affect the appropriateness of a site to your intended uses.
For example, some systems couple high performance vectorization with somewhat limited memories,
others feature very large memories with limited vectorization capabilities, whereas others specialize in
massively parallel systems.
THE NSF BACKBONE
Supercomputers were born in the U.S. but were generally unavailable to university scientists because of
their high costs. Some American scientists actually went to Europe to obtain time on U.S.-built
supercomputers. Recognizing the importance of computing access, the NSF established five
supercomputer centers across the nation in 1984. Time on these machines is obtained mainly through
several grant mechanisms and is otherwise free of charge.
The NSF also helped establish a communications network, called the NSF backbone, which connects
these centers and links them to regional networks.
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Originally, the centers were deliberately designed to differ from one another in order to make make more
options available to researchers, and to test out a variety of novel machine architectures, operating
systems, and support strategies under real-life conditions. Recently, however, the systems have converged
around several models of CRAY computers, IBM 3090s, and the new massively parallel Connection
Machines, mostly running slight variants of Unix.
SUPERCOMPUTER HARDWARE
Supercomputers are not just big, fast machines that use state-of the-art hardware; they also feature special
architectures. While these architectures can greatly boost performance, their full power can only be
exploited under certain conditions and often require that the program and/or problem itself be
restructured by someone who understands how these architectures function.
The most common supercomputer architectures include special memory organization, such as cache
memories in the IBM 3090, or independent memory banks in the CRAYs, vector hardware (also called
pipeline hardware) present in nearly all supercomputers, and parallel hardware, usually in the form of
multiple processors. All of these features have recently started to appear on non-supercomputers, but
their implementation and support are especially well developed on supercomputers.
Cache Memories
For a given price, memory can either be big and slow or small and fast. A cache is a small and very fast
memory which serves as a buffer to a large slow memory; therefore, cache memories can, under certain
conditions, improve overall performance by reducing the time to access main memory. When an operand
is fetched from main memory, both it and a number of its nearest neighbors are placed in the high speed
cache. If the next reference is to a neighbor, it will be taken from the cache instead of the main memory.
If memory usage in the program tends to be highly clustered, then the program operates mainly out of the
cache and performance increases greatly. On the other hand, if memory usage is highly scattered, then
the cache memory can actually degrade performance.
Independent Memory Banks
Independent memory banks are another way of speeding memory access and storage. A reference to a
given bank of memory cells ties up the bank for a number of machine cycles, and no further access is
possible until the bank is free. Some computers arrange memory into a number (64 on the CRAY) of
independent banks so that most memory references address different banks and do not interfere with one
another.
Typically the banks are arranged so that adjacent words, such as X(1), X(2), X(3), reside in different
banks. For example, the loop
DO 10 I=1,N
runs faster with an independent memory bank architecture since the storage times for X(1), X(2), X(3),
X(4) etc., are overlapped. However, array structures or patterns of array access which are discordant with
the memory architecture can defeat the architecture and slow execution considerably. For example, on a
64 bank memory the following code:
DIMENSION X(64,50)
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DO 10 J = 1,50
10 X(1,J) = 0.0
would nail the same bank each and every time through the "J" loop, since X(1,1), X(1,2), X(1,3) etc.
reside in the same bank. In this case the problem can easily be solved by redimensioning X as X(65,50)
in order to change the memory layout.
Vector Hardware
Vector hardware is currently the most widespread and mature of the special architectures found in
supercomputers. Vector units consist of CPU components such as add or multiply units which are
divided into a number of sequential stages or segments. The units typically accept two vectors of
numbers which proceed through the segments and emerge out the other end as a vector of results. As long
as the vectors continue to flow, the process is efficient, and speedups by a factor of 5 or 10 are not
uncommon, but starting and stopping the units for short vectors can actually increase execution time.
Efficient vector operation often requires some restructuring of code by the programmer as well as the use
of compiler directives to monitor and control the process. A more complete description of vector
operations appears later in this document.
Parallel Hardware
Parallel architecture distributes the processing of a single program over a number of different physical
processing units. It offers the greatest potential for vast increases in performance of any known
architectural layout. For example, a machine with 10,000 processors might solve some problems almost
10,000 times more quickly than a single processor machine. However, most programs cannot be
partitioned so completely into independent units, and many difficult hardware and software issues remain
unsolved and are the subject of intense research. At present, limited parallelism can be exploited on the
IBM 3090 and CRAYs, and massive parallelism is possible with the Connection Machine. The effort
needed to restructure code ranges from about the same as for vectorization to considerably more. A more
complete description of parallel operations appears later in this document.
Impact on Debugging and Graphics
Supercomputers are so powerful and generate such vast amounts of information that they force major
changes in both debugging techniques and in the presentation of output. Ad hoc debugging techniques
are woefully inadequate for dealing with, say, an error in the 471,000-th iteration of a 500 variable
program operating on 18 million separate values. Special debugging software is required which lets you
examine values, restart code at various points, observe the effects of changes in values, run controlled
experiments, etc.
Similarly, traditional printed and even standard graphical output is often inadequate to represent the
millions or even billions of separate data values that can be provided by a supercomputer run. The term
"visualization" is the latest buzzword used to describe the sets of advanced graphical techniques which
address this problem. Visualization often involves high resolution displays, extensive use of color, 3D
representations, and extensive interactive control of the image in order to control the viewing angle,
collapse dimensions in a multi-dimensional data set, or perform image processing functions in order to
extract or highlight desired information. Existing graphics packages are often insufficient for the task as
they emphasize the display of 2- and 3-dimensional XY, XYZ, or contour plots, whereas the
representations of complex simulated phenomena require some combination of image processing
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approaches along with more standard graphic techniques. In addition, graphics place severe demands on
data transmission as well as real time interaction.
Other Hardware Issues
Other hardware issues include memory size and use of high speed peripherals, such as the Solid State
Disk (SSD), available on some CRAYs.
The hardware available at different supercomputer sites should be a major consideration in your
selection. For example, a CRAY Y-MP is extremely good for highly optimized vector operations, but is
somewhat limited in terms of memory, an IBM 3090 has an immense memory but only modest vector
performance, and a Connection Machine is much superior for highly parallel problems.
SUPERCOMPUTER SOFTWARE
Supercomputer sites are often endowed with a rich collection of applications software in the areas of
Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Mathematics, and Graphics. Computer languages, however, are
confined mainly to FORTRAN, Pascal, and C, and FORTRAN is the only language that is extensively
optimized for vector/parallel operations at all sites.
Operating Systems
While the early sites featured a variety of operating systems, most have converted to variants of Unix
(UNICOS on the Crays, AIX of the IBM 3090, and Ultrix on some front ends), and CMS which shares
the 3090 with AIX. A few sites also offer VMS font ends.
Workstation Support
Some sites provide extensive support for Workstation and PC software to be used in conjunction with the
supercomputer or its front end. NCSA at Illinois, for example, provides free downloadable graphics and
communications software for PCs, SUNs, and Macintoshes.
Software is probably the single most important consideration in site selection. Unfamiliar languages or
editors can greatly increase learning time; programs, data files, and data formats may have to be
restructured to move to a particular environment, and future portability must be kept in mind; nonFORTRAN programs may have to be rewritten or run in a non- or sub- optimized mode; and major
applications programs, libraries, or graphics libraries may be unavailable or at different revision levels.
SUPERCOMPUTER PERFORMANCE GAINS
Despite the many "fringe" benefits of supercomputer sites, such as access to software, training, graphics,
and collaborative research, the main purpose in using supercomputers is to exploit their size and speed in
order to handle otherwise intractable problems. The performance of supercomputers is due mainly to two
factors:
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❏
Supercomputers are generally big, fast machines which employ high performance
technology. As a result, all computer programs automatically benefit.
❏
Hardware architectures, such as cache memory, independent banks, instruction stacks, high
speed I/O, vector, and parallel operations which, although not unique to supercomputers, are
usually more highly developed. The exploitation of these features is partly automatic but
can also benefit significantly from modifications by the programmer.
Vector and parallel architectures are most often emphasized in optimization, but attention to the other
architectures mentioned above can bring about major performance gains as well. One should also note
that (a) extensive optimization should only be done in conjunction with special timing tools which locate
those portions of the program which can benefit most, and (b) optimization should only be carried to a
certain degree--smarter compilers in the near future will be able to optimize well structured code much
better than the "spaghetti" code that often results from overzealous hand optimization.
PERFORMANCE GAINS THROUGH SPECIALIZED HARDWARE
The most significant performance gains are obtainable through vector processing and parallel processing
hardware.
Vector Processing
Vector processing can best be explained through analogy. Imagine a factory which assembles 6-bladed
airplane propellers. It has 6 people, p1,p2,...,p6, at 6 workstations who attach each blade in turn to the
hub. Person p1 receives a tray with the parts and assembles the first blade to the hub. When done, he
passes the tray along with his partial assembly to p2. P2 attaches the 2nd blade and when done passes the
tray and his partial assembly to p3, and so on.
Of course, when p1 has passed his partial assembly to p2 he does not just quit for the day. Instead he
immediately gets a new tray and starts a new assembly. Similarly, p2 no sooner finishes his assembly
when he gets the tray and the partial assembly from p1 and begins attaching the second blade.
After 6 time periods, the above pipeline is filled with 6 different stages of assembly. The important point
to note is that while it still takes 6 time periods to assemble any given propeller, a new finished propeller
emerges from the assembly pipeline each and every time period. We have speeded up the assembly
process by a factor of 6 by using 6 people in a quasi-parallel manner. Note that even if a product
required 10,000 stages to assemble, the products would still emerge at the rate of 1 per time period. In
other words, production speed is independent of the complexity or length of the assembly process. On
the other hand, if the pipeline is interrupted for any reason, a very long pipeline (or assembly process)
will take much longer to restart than a short one.
In supercomputers, the vector or pipeline process is usually applied to arithmetic units, such as add,
multiply, or divide units which "assemble" new numbers from the vectors of input numbers.
For example, a multiply unit on the CRAY contains 7 stages. The FORTRAN code
DO 10 I = 1,60
10 C(I) = A(I)*B(I)
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is converted to vector instructions which start loading the vectors A(1), A(2),... and B(1), B(2),... into
special vector registers. As soon as the first pair is available, A(1) and B(1) enter the multiply unit to
begin the first stage of multiplication.
At the end of one clock cycle, the partial multiplication of A(1)*B(1) moves to the 2nd stage in the
multiply unit, and A(2), B(2) enter stage 1; at the end of the 2nd cycle, A(1)*B(1) moves to stage 3,
A(2)*B(2) moves to stage 2, and A(3), B(3) enter stage 1. This process continues and at cycle 7 all seven
stages are being utilized, the fully multiplied value of A(1)*B(1) emerges and is stored in C(1), and A(8),
B(8) get ready to enter stage 1. From then on, a new multiply is finished every clock cycle, even though
it takes 7 cycles to complete one multiply. We have increased the speed almost by a factor of 7 (except
for initiating the pipeline).
Vectorization only applies to explicit DO-loops in FORTRAN and their equivalents in other languages.
Only one loop within a nest of loops can be vectorized, but the software automatically selects the loop
unless that choice is overridden by directives from the programmer.
There exist many obstacles to vectorization, some of which are easily overcome (for example, changing
the order of statements), some which require use of compiler directives to modify the vectorization
process, and some which require major restructuring of the code. On high performance vector machines,
such as the CRAY, speedups of a factor of 5 or 10 for that portion of the code that can be vectorized are
not uncommon.
Parallel Processing
The basic idea of parallel processing is easier to grasp than vector processing, but the usage,
implementation, and many of the concepts are more difficult. On the other hand, the rewards may be
much greater since the potential speedup is proportional to the number of processors available, whereas
vector speedup can never be much more than a factor of 10.
Parallel systems distribute the work of a program or subroutine among a number of processors. In some
implementations, such as CRAY Macrotasking, the number and operation of parallel processors must be
predetermined; in other implementations, such as CRAY Microtasking, the number, identity, or order of
execution of the processors is unknown and variable (this has many consequences which influence the
structure of a parallel program and hence the modifications needed to convert an existing program to
parallel operation). Most of the following discussion applies to CRAY Microtasking.
Some of the concepts of parallel processing are illustrated by the execution profile of subroutine ABC:
SUBROUTINE ABC
(Block B1)
(Block B2)
(Block B3)
a block of code executed by one processor
another block executed by a processor
another block executed by a processor
RETURN
END
The subroutine is entered at the top under the control of a single processor, after which control is
transferred to one, two, or three other processors for blocks B1, B2, and B3. When all of the blocks are
finished, control is returned to a single processor which terminates the subroutine. The execution profile
might look like this:
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Time
Processor 1
Processor 6
Processor 4
1
2
3
Start ABC
Run B2
x
x
Run B1
x
x
Run B3
Exit ABC
where "x" means the processor is idle or engaged with another program. The profile is generally
unpredictable and the actual number and identity of processors depends on many factors. Because of this
unpredictability, the parallel operation is often referred to as a "fray."
A DO-loop is a special case of the above structure:
SUBROUTINE ABC
DO 10 I = 1,3 (the i-th iteration of the loop is block B(i)
10 CONTINUE
RETURN
END
in which some iterations of the loop may be handled by different processors.
Some obvious and not-so-obvious consequences derive from such an implementation. The different code
blocks must be totally independent of the sequence in which they are processed: Block 3, for example,
cannot depend on the results of, say, Block 1. It is less obvious that local variables assigned values inside
a block can have no validity outside the block, that values associated with loop iterations must be
explicitly tied to the loop index, and that global variables which are not indexed by a loop index must be
"guarded" from simultaneous access. Consider the following section of code:
K=0
DO 10 I = 1, 1000
K=K+1
10 CONTINUE
The operation of the above loop depends on whether K is local or global. Local variables in a parallel
block of code are replicated for each processor that joins in the "fray" whereas global variables occupy a
single location which is accessed by all processors.
Suppose that K is a local variable and the 1000 iterations of the loop are randomly distributed among,
say, 64 processors. Then processor 17 might handle 23 iterations of the loop, processor 39 might handle
11 iterations, and so on. At the end of the loop, if control is assigned solely to processor 17 then K=23, if
assigned to processor 39 then K=11, whereas in a non-parallel environment K always equals 1000.
Inside the loop, if K is used as a substitute for the loop index, then its value depends only on how many
times that processor has handled the loop, and so will generally have little relation to the value of the
loop index itself. Thus A(K) rarely is the same as A(I), whereas in a non-parallel environment it is
always so.
If K is a global variable then it must be guarded from simultaneous access by more than 1 processor. For
example, suppose that K=0 and processors 13 and 19 begin execution of RK=K+1S at slightly different
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times. If 19 accesses the expression before 13 has finished, then K will be reset to 1 instead of being set
to 2 as it should be.
This type of code is called a "critical section" and must be guarded by explicit directives which guarantee
that another processor can only enter that section of code when the current processor has finished.
Parallel and vector processing are quite compatible and can be used not only in the same program but
often in the same nest of loops. For example, some compilers analyze a DO-loop nest and select one
loop for vectorization and another for parallel processing. On the CRAY, a single loop can be partitioned
into vectorized and parallelized sections.
INTERACTION WITH OPTIMIZING COMPILERS
The goal of an optimizing compiler is to speed the execution of a program without changing the results.
It scans the user's source code and identifies structures which can utilize the special hardware found in
supercomputers. Since the conditions under which these structures can be safely optimized are very
limited, it must analyze much of the surrounding code to determine if, and to what degree, the code can
be optimized.
The compiler is subject to several important constraints which limit its effectiveness. Since the
optimization is done at compile time it can have no knowledge of the run-time structure of the job. Thus,
input data values which may change the flow of execution and the degree of optimization cannot be
considered, so the compiler has to assume the worst case and do the least amount of optimization.
Another constraint is that optimization is often limited to the scope of a single routine, and interactions
between routines which might affect optimization cannot be taken into account. In addition, the
technology of optimizing compilers is continually advancing, and any given compiler may be unable to
optimize code which later versions can handle.
Because of these limitations it is often necessary for the programmer to supply auxiliary information
which eliminates ambiguity and resolves problems which the compiler cannot handle. This is especially
important in parallel processing, but is also often required in vectorization. The programmer supplies
global directives on the compile statement or embeds local directives in the source code, or both, which
guide the optimization process. For example, the following loop would be rejected by any vectorizing
FORTRAN because of a "recurrence" relation in the loop:
K = IVAL
DO 10 I = 1,N
10 A(I) = A(I-K) + 1.0
While "recurrence" and other inhibitors of vectorization are beyond the scope of this report (see [4] and
[5] for more information), the above code can be vectorized on a CRAY provided that (a) K is negative,
or (b) K is greater than 64. If the programmer knows this he can insert compiler directives which force
the compiler to vectorize. Thus the code
CDIR$ IVDEP
DO 10 I = 1,N
10 A(I) = A(I-K) + 1.0
("ignore vector dependency")
in effect, tells the compiler that "I know more than you, so forget your inhibitions and vectorize anyway."
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Parallel optimization usually requires more embedded directives than vectorization. It is frequently
necessary to explicitly prevent multiple processors from accessing code until all processors have finished
operating on a previous section. For example, the CRAY compiler directives (see [6])
CMIC$ DO GLOBAL
DO 10 J = 1,N
(operation on the J-th column of A)
10
CONTINUE
CMIC$ DO GLOBAL
DO 20 I = 1,M
(operation on the I-th row of A)
20
CONTINUE
would distribute the operations of the N columns of A and the M rows of A to different processors, but
would assure that all columns were finished before any rows were processed. The directives are signaled
by "CMIC$" (for Microtasking) in columns 1-5 and apply to the next DO-loop. Thus the start of the
second "CMIC$" terminates the first "CMIC$" and tells the compiler that the two loops are to be
processed in sequence.
MIGRATING PROGRAM TO SUPERCOMPUTERS
The main point in using supercomputers is to achieve dramatic increases in processing speeds. The
increases are partially due to the fact that supercomputers are simply big and fast computers, but much of
the increase comes from the special architectures that supercomputers employ. Achieving a high degree
of optimization on supercomputers requires a well thought-out strategy as well as realistic expectations as
to what can actually be achieved.
The maximum gains that can be obtained through parallel processing or vectorization are controlled by
"Amdahl's" law [1]: P = 1/(1-X+X/a) where P is the performance gain, X is that ratio of the code which
can be optimized (vectorized or processed in parallel), and "a" is the speedup ratio for vector or parallel
code. The important part of the law is that the performance is much more controlled by X, the proportion
of the code that can be optimized, than by "a." For example, suppose that X = 0.80, so that 80% of the
code can be vectorized or processed in parallel. Then the absolute maximum speedup possible is a factor
of 5, even if vector or parallel operations are infinitely fast (that is, even if "a" is infinity, then P = 1/(10.8 + 0.8/infinity) = 1/(0.2) = 5 ).
Note that it is rare for X to exceed 0.8 (factor of 5 speedup) for vector processing applications, whereas X
may often exceed 0.99 (factor of 100 speedup) for parallel processing applications.
The first step in migrating code to a supercomputer (after making any adjustments to insure that the
FORTRAN code will actually compile and run), is to instrument the program in order to identify
"hotspots," that is, code which is extremely CPU intensive. A good candidate program for optimization
should have an execution profile such that nearly all of the CPU time is spent in just a few percent of the
code (if the execution profile is fairly uniform, then hand optimization may be a waste of time). Most
supercomputer sites provide easily used compiler directives or other tools which will show you a
histogram of CPU time spent versus source code.
If the program has identifiable hotspots, the next step is to read and understand the compiler messages
which identify obstacles to optimization. For example, the IBM 3090 compiler provides an in depth
analysis of each loop, which identifies not only the obstacles to vectorization, but also the results of an
"economic" analysis to determine which loop in a nest of loops yields the best results.
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At this point you should analyze the loops highlighted by the compiler to see if any can be replaced by
routines from existing optimized libraries, such as the ESSL routines on the IBM 3090. Many such
routines are coded in assembly language and are optimized to a very high degree. After this, you should
attempt to remove inhibitors to optimization by making local modifications to loops. In many cases this
can be done simply by reordering statements, splitting loops, or adding compiler directives. For example,
the loops on the left will not vectorize, while the loops on the right (which produce exactly the same
results) will:
10
DO 10 I=2,N
B(I) = A(I-1)
A(I) = C(I)
10
DO 10 I=1,N
DO 10 J=1,N
A(I,J)=A(I,J-1)*B(I,J)
10
DO 10 I=2,N
A(I)=C(I)
B(I) = A(I-1)
10
DO 10 J=1,N
DO 10 I=1,N
A(I,J)=A(I,J-1)*B(I,J)
In the above examples, a "recurrence" relation existed which prevented vectorization. In the following
example, the recurrence relation could not be avoided for one expression, but by splitting the loop into
two parts, one of the two expressions on the right can be vectorized:
10
DO 10 I=1,60
A(I)=B(I)*C(I)
D(I)=D(I-1)*E(I)
10
20
DO 10 I=1,60
A(I)=B(I)*C(I)
D(I)=D(I-1)*E(I)
When these steps have been taken, further optimization can be achieved by paying careful attention to
memory layout or by restructuring the program to obtain the best match between program structure and
the architecture of the machine. The latter is, of course, a very time consuming operation and should
only be undertaken when the benefits and the costs are fully considered.
ADMINISTRATIVE ACCESS
Resources on all of the NSF sites and some of the other sites are mainly allocated on the basis of grants,
rather than by money. Three main grant types are commonly available:
❏
Large allocations which are subject to formal peer review boards which meet at scheduled
times during the year. These boards are comprised of personnel which may be from the site,
jointly from several sites, or from NSF.
❏
Small allocations for startup or familiarization purposes. These are usually available at any
time throughout a year.
❏
Block grants awarded to Universities. The Universities allocate sub blocks of time through
their own review boards.
SUPERCOMPUTER GLOSSARY
The following glossary defines some of the terms used in this report. A much more complete glossary of
supercomputer terms appears in reference [1].
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CGM:
an acronym for Computer Graphics Metafile. It is a GKS standard metafile which
contains generalized plot instructions which can then be converted to drive a
specific graphics device.
ETHERNET:
a network scheme which uses the Carrier Sense, Multiple Access, and Collision
Detect (CSMACD) method of attaching hosts to it. The Ethernet can be used with
a number of protocols including TCP/IP and DECNET.
FILE SERVER:
a computer system that permits network users to create or access files.
FTP:
an acronym for File Transfer Protocol. This is a commonly used program that
reliably transfers files between two computers on a network.
GBYTES:
a billion bytes of information.
GKS:
an acronym for Graphics Kernel System. An internationally recognized standard
for creating graphic images on a computer.
HPGL:
a plot format specifically designed for certain models of Hewlett-Packard plotters.
MAC:
short for Macintosh computer.
MBYTES:
a million bytes of information.
MASS:
a mass storage facility commonly used at supercomputer sites to store large
amounts of semipermanent data for each user.
METAFILE:
a generic graphics file which is not designed to drive any existing graphics device
but which can be converted to any specific graphics device.
MEMORY BANK: a region of memory in a computer which has a single access path to it. Any access
to a bank blocks all other accesses until it is complete.
MFLOPS:
millions of floating point operations per second.
MWORDS:
millions of computer words.
NS:
a nano-second, or one billion-th of a second.
POSTSCRIPT:
a text and graphics language designed especially for "Desk Top Publishing"
environments.
SSD:
an acronym for Solid State Disk, a very large high speed semiconductor memory
that serves in place of a rotating disk, but is much faster.
TELNET:
a program that permits a user at one computer to login to another computer.
T1:
a telecommunications medium that allows data to be transmitted at a speed of
1.544 megabytes per second. The NSF backbone and much of NorthWestNet
operate at T1 speeds.
VISUALIZATION: a collection of techniques which make it possible to display the results of
calculations. It includes, but it not confined to, standard graphical displays such as
line or contour plots. It is especially useful to compress the vast amount of
information generated by supercomputers into a comprehensible form.
SUPERCOMPUTER REFERENCES
[1] "Supercomputing: An Informal Glossary of Terms," IEEE Washington Office, 1111 Nineteenth
Street, NW, Washington D.C. 20036. 1987.
[2] H.J. Raveche, Duncan H. Lawrie, Alvain Despain, "A National Computing Initiative-An Agenda for
Leadership." Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 1400 Architects Building, 117 So. 17th
Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103-5052. 1987.
[3] Norris P. Smith, "Of Supers and Minisupers," Computer Graphics World, August 1988.
[4] Helen M. Doerr, Francesca Verdier, "Improving Vector Performance," and "Introduction to
Vectorization," Cornell National Supercomputer Facility, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York,
September 1987.
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[5] David D. Soll, "Vectorization and Vector Migration Techniques," IBM Technical Bulletin, SR204966-0.
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Chapter 17: Supercomputer Site Descriptions
The following section provides detailed information about six NSF-sponsored sites which provide supercomputer
services for NSF sponsored researchers. The purpose of these site descriptions is to allow you to do some
preliminary comparisons of each site's hardware, software, and training programs so you can select the
supercomputer site which would be most appropriate for your particular research needs.
All of the site descriptions were reviewed or contributed by representatives of each site's user services staff in
September, 1991. We'd like to thank the following individuals for their participation:
Supercomputer Site
Reviewed By
Cornell National Supercomputer Facility
National Energy Research Supercomputer Center
Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center
National Center for Atmospheric Research
National Center for Supercomputer Applications
National Center for Supercomputer Applications
San Diego Supercomputer Center
Blaise Barney
Jean Schuler
Deb Nigra
Juliana Rew
Lyle Rigdon
Melissa Johnson
Mark Sheddon
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CORNELL NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTER FACILITY (CNSF)
Computer Hardware
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Two IBM ES/3090 600J, with 6 vector facilities each
512 Mbytes main memory each
827.6 Mflops maximum speed
266 Gbytes of disk storage
896 MBytes of memory available to each user application
Both vector and parallel processing hardware
2 Sun workstations
Stellar Graphics Supercomputer
Graphics hubs across Cornell campus
Software
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
AIX operating system for both 3090s (CMS still available as well)
Software support for vectorization, including vectorizing compiler and vector libraries
Interactive and batch modes
Editor: IBM Xedit
Text Processors: SCRIPT/VS (includes MFF), TeX
FORTRAN: VS FORTRAN, PTOOL FORTRAN aids
Other languages: Assembler, C, EXEC, EXEC2, LISP, PASCAL, PL/I, PROLOG, REXX, APL2
(vectorized)
PUBLIC: public domain user contributed and supported software
Chemistry
ALCHEMY II
DISCOVER 2.5.1
KGNMOL
AMBER
GAMESS
MELDF
AMPAC
GAUSSIAN 88
MOPAC
CHARMm
HONDO 7PF & 8
VENUS
DYNA3D
HSPICE
Computational Fluid Dynamics
FIDAP
Electronics
HSPICE 8907
Engineering
ABAQUS
SUPREM III
ESSL
VSPICE
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FORTRAN Utilities & Debuggers
FORTRAN IAD
ROAFP
FORTAUX
UTILITY
DI-3000
graPHIGS 2.1
TELL-A-GRAF
DISSPLA 11.0
GRAPHIT
VIEW
GDDM
NCAR
BSPLINE
ESSL 3 & 4
GAMS/MINOS
LLSQ
ODEPACK
SCRATCHPAD II
CERNLIB
FFTPACK
IMSL 11
MAPLE 4.0
QUADPACK
SLATEC 3.2
ASSEMBLE
FORTRAN VS 2.3
PARALLEL
FORTRAN
C/370 1.1
FORTRAN VS 2.4
PASCAL VS 1.2
EXEC
HASM
PL/I OPT. 2.3
SIMSCRIPT II.5
SLAM II 4.03
BMDP88
SAS 5.18
EDA
SAS/IML
GLIM 3.77
TSP
NTSYS 4.6
PASSTHRU
PTOOL
PDF
SyncSort
PIPELINES
TOOLS
PS INTERPRETER
VM BATCH
Graphics
CONPLOT
GDQF
SAS/GRAPH
Mathematics and Numerical Libraries
ACMALG
EISPACK 3
FISHPACK
LAPACK
MATHADVANTAGE
RECIPES
TOEPLITZ
ACRITH 1.3
ELLPACK
FUNPACK 2
LINPACK
NAG 13
REDUCE 3.3
Mechanics
ABAQUS 4.8.4
ANSYS 4.4
Programming Languages
APL2
EXEC2
LISP VM
REXX
Simulation
GPSS/H 1.99
Statistics
Utilities
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Training
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Introduction to systems, access, languages, and optimization tools for new users
Summer institutes for researchers working on code
Undergraduate/Faculty workshops
Workshops on parallel processing and vectorization
Computational Chemistry workshops
Visualization and remote graphics workshops
Collaborative Research
❏
❏
❏
User groups and Research Interest Groups (Computational Chemistry and Statistics)
Interdisciplinary research groups open to all researchers
Corporate Research Institute
Documentation
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Online documentation: BOOKMGR, CNSFINFO, CUINFO
Newsletter: ForeFronts
Training notebooks of presentations from classes and lab exercises
Online instruction Program: TUTOR
Online help program and man pages
Consulting
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
E-mail consulting
Large scale computing consulting
Computational Research Associate Staff in Chemistry, Statistics, Operations Research, Astrophysics,
Mathematics, Engineering, and Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Visualization consulting
Strategic User Program for those using parallel computing in production work
Corporate Research Consulting
Graphics Support
❏
❏
Support for remote X-Windows (including xim with WaveFront) Tektronix 4105, 4010; Versaterm
for Mac; GRAF for PC; VT100 emulators; gnuPLOT and a version of xmovie
An extensive graphics lab with high speed fiber optic links, an image processing system, facilities for
videotape production, a digital camera for 35 mm slides, printers for producing camera ready copy,
plotters and color PostScript printers, and a number of IBM and Unix workstations
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Strengths and Limitations
Strength
parallel processing and very large memory
Limitation
limited vector processing (as compared with a CRAY)
Administrative
Allocations are approved at Theory Center at CNSF by a peer review process; small startup grants may be made
before peer review process is complete.
Contact Summaries
Consulting:
Technical and visualization
consulting:
(607) 254-8686
[email protected]
(607) 254-8686
(607) 255-3985
[email protected]
Allocations:
Pat Colasurdo
(607) 255-3985
[email protected]
Training:
(607) 254-8686
System Status:
(607) 255-7138
Network help:
Network Management Center
(24 hrs/day, 7 days/week)
(607) 255-9900
IBM 3090 addresses:
cornelle.tn.cornell.edu
(128.84.252.7)
cornellf.tn.cornell.edu
(128.84.252.21)
eagle.tc.cornell.edu (AIX)
(128.84.201.1)
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Login Script
The following script shows how to connect to the CNSF IBM, login, compile, load and run a program, and then
logout. It assumes that you connect from some local machine which supports the TCP/IP TELNET program.
Note that if you are login in from a VMS machine, you will need to use TN3270 to access CNSF.
Prompts are represented by "user>>" for you, "CNSF>" for the IBM, "TELN>>" for TELNET, and "CNus>>" for
IBM responses followed by user entries on the same line. Most responses are abbreviated. Comments are
enclosed in parentheses.
Note that this dialog has been tested.
Prompt
Dialog
Comments
user>>
TELN>>
CNSF>>
CNSF>>
CNus>>
CNSF>>
telnet 128.84.252.21
(TELNET to the IBM)
...
(TELNET messages)
LOGON user-id
ENTER PASSWORD OR LOGOFF (IT WILL NOT APPEAR
WHEN TYPED): password
system messages
fortvs hello
(Compile the program)
...
(Compiler messages)
CNus>>
fortlibs
CNus>>
CNus>>
load hello
start *
CNSF>>
CNSF>>
CNSF>>
Execution begins...
HELLO WORLD
logoff
(Access libraries
required to load and run
program)
(Load the program)
(Run the program)
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NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH (NCAR)
Computer Hardware
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
CRAY Y-MP8/864 with 8 processors; CRAY Y-MP2D with 2 processors
64 Mwords of main memory for the Y-MP8, 16 Mwords for the Y-MP2
48 Mword maximum memory per job for batch; 16 Mwords for interactive
6.0 ns clock for both CRAYs; a measured peak rate of over 1 Gflops has been achieved with a
multitasked ocean model
Vector processing hardware for both CRAYs
256 million word SSD for Y-MP8 (1000 Mbyte/sec channel), 128 million word SSD for Y-MP2
60 gigabytes of local storage for the Y-MP8, 20 gigabytes of local storage for the Y-MP2
Unix front end
NCAR Mass Storage System (MSS) is a hierarchical file storage system with no limit per user. The
MSS has a 120 gigabyte disk farm and over 108,000 tape cartridges. It features a StoragTek 4400
Automated Cartridge System capable of holding 6,000 cartridges, or a terabyte of information.
Currently, MSS stores over 19 terabytes of data. Extremely high data transfer to the CRAYs;
accessible from front-end
Connection Machine 2 (8,000 processors and floating point hardware)
Sun 4/490 used as a gateway for NCAR's Internet Remote Job Entry System (IRJE). Allows users to
create and submit CRAY jobs from their local hosts connected to the Internet. Output is
automatically shipped back to the remote host
Software
❏
❏
❏
UNICOS 6.1.4 operating system on CRAY Y-MP8/864; UNICOS 5.1.11 onCRAY Y-MP2D
FORTRAN: CFT 77 version 4.0 (default) or 5.0
Other languages: vectorizing C and Pascal compilers
Application Libraries
ALFPACK
EISPACK
FUNPACK
FFTPACK
ODEPACK
SSDLIN
NCARG-LOC
AMOSLIB
EISPKD
IMSL
MINPACK
SPHERE
STARPAC
NCARM
ECMFFT
FISHPAK
CRAYFISH
MUDPACK
SCI
NCARG
NCARO
EDA
FITPACK
LINPACK
NAG
SLATEC
NCARG-GKS
Graphics
NCAR/GKS Version 3.1.2
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Training
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
New user orientation class: One-day class to introduce Unix/UNICOS programming tools and the
NCAR computing environment.
Unix Basics Class: Two-day introduction to the basics of Unix
Remote site visits are granted to sites with a significant number of users
User conference held every 18 months to update users on new developments and new directions in
computing at NCAR
Site liaison workshops held biennially: intensive, in-depth presentations on specific aspects of the
NCAR computing facility
Graphics and optimization workshops are planned for the future
Collaborative Research
❏
❏
❏
User groups
Real-time computing during field programs
Classroom grants of computer time
Documentation
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Online documentation available for most of the utilities in the supported libraries via the Distributed
Software Libraries (dsl) utility
Scientific Computing Division (SCD) hardcopy documentation available free except for the GKS
Graphics manual
User Documentation Catalog containing references both to SCD supported and vendor
documentation. Available online via anonymous FTP to ftp.ucar.edu with the filename
/docs/catalog/userdoc.catalog
NCAR UNICOS Primer: contains necessary basic information to begin computing at NCAR. Uses
step by step examples to create, submit, and receive output from the CRAYs
Daily Bulletin: Online source of up to date information on the computing systems
Monthly newsletter: SCD Computing News
Annual planning report: Supercomputing: The View From NCAR
NCAR Annual Report
NCAR Annual Scientific Report
Consulting
❏
❏
❏
❏
Phone, 8-5 MST weekdays; walk-in consulting available for visitors and local users. Extended
consulting available by appointment
E-mail consulting available from Internet, BITNET, Span, and Omnet
Specialized consulting for software libraries, networking and data communications, optimization,
multi-tasking, CRAY I/O optimization, segmentation (overlaying) of large applications, math
algorithms, NCAR Graphics, IBM PC/AT and Macintosh, and Unix and UNICOS
Visitor assistance includes access 24 hrs/day, 7 days/week, IBM PCs and Macintoshes for terminal or
stand-alone use, color graphics terminals, Canon microfilm/fiche reader/printers, community
telephone for business use, documentation library (including vendor documentation)
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Graphics Support
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
DICOMED film recorder for 16 mm film and fiche (black and white)
DICOMED color film recorder (35 mm color slides)
Xerox 4050 laser printers for paper graphical output
CGM metafile support
Remote graphics support includes: Tektronix 4010, 4105, 4107, 4025, 4115; VT100, VT125, VT220,
VT330; ADM; AED512; HP2648a, HP7475a, HP150; PC-Plot for IBM/PC; Versaterm for
Macintosh.
Output mailed to users at remote sites
Strengths and Limitations
Strengths
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
High performance vector processing
Extensive user support services
SSD for large I/O applications
Extensive data archives for atmospheric and oceanographic research
High volume mass storage system
Extremely high volume graphics output capabilities
16 mm movie making and video support
Remote job entry system
Limitations
❏
❏
Limited memory
Few applications outside atmospheric sciences
Administrative
❏
❏
Allocations are open to university researchers with NSF grants in atmospheric, oceanographic, and
related sciences; grant requests are reviewed by a peer review board composed of NCAR staff and
university researchers
Allocations are also available to government agencies on a cost recovery basis
Contact Summaries
Consulting:
Visitor/User Information:
Allocations:
Documentation Orders:
IBM 4381 front end address:
(303) 497-1278
[email protected]
(303) 497-1225
[email protected]
(303) 497-1207
[email protected]
(303) 497-1232
[email protected]
evans.ucar.edu (128.117.8.18)
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IRJE (remote job entry):
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[email protected]
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NATIONAL CENTER FOR SUPERCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS (NCSA)
Computer Hardware
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
CRAY Y-MP4/464 with 4 processors; CRAY-2S/4-128 with 4 processors; Connection Machine
Model 2 (CM-2) with 32,000 parallel processors and 32 bit floating point hardware; Convex C240
system (used for memory intensive real-time visualization)
64 Mwords of main memory for the Y-MP; 128 Mwords of main memory for the CRAY-2; 256
MByte main memory for CM-2; 1 Gbyte of physical memory for the Convex
A maximum of 6.5 Mwords of main memory per user on the X-MP (see HELP MEMORY on the
CRAYs for details)
6.0 ns clock speed for the CRAY Y-MP; 4.1 ns clock speed for the CRAY-2
Vector, scalar, and parallel processing
High speed 128 Mword Solid State Disk (SSD) for the CRAY-Y/MP
16 Gbytes temporary storage for Crays; 10 GByte DataVault for the CM-2
Common File System (CFS) with 120 GBytes of permanent file storage running on an Amdahl 5860
Potentially unlimited magnetic tape storage through an IBM 3480
Plans for significant increases in mass storage capabilities
Three IBM RISC System 6000 model 550's (high-end superscalar machines for predominantly scalar
applications); there will be a total six of 550's and one RS/6000 model 950 Front-end / File Server by
the end of 1991.
Three Sun 4/490 front ends running SunOS for the CM-2
Numerous high end machines from Silicon Graphics, Apple, IBM, and SUN in the Numerical
Laboratory, accessible over the Internet
VAX/Ultrix front end for BITNET connectivity
New network hardware and software being installed in a testbed research project (BLANCA) to
prepare for the national gigabyte transcontinental network (NREN) ; by early 1992 BLANCA should
include a 622 Mbit/sec trunk to University of Wisconsin, and 45 Mbit/sec links to Berkeley and Bell
labs
Software
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
UNICOS is the operating system on both CRAYs. It provides interactive and batch access to a Unix
operating system (based on AT&T Unix System V)
Multitasking is supported on the CRAYs. Dedicated time is available to allow access to all 4 CPUs
Editors: vi on the CRAYs
FORTRAN: CFT, CFT77 and CF77; cdbx is the debugger of choice on both CRAYs, though other
debuggers are available
Other languages: vectorizing C compiler on both CRAYs
cfs utility to move files between CFS and the CRAYs and Many example programs for vectorization
and graphics on CFS
Extensive in-house software development applications staff
Public domain software for workstations available via anonymous FTP-connect to ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu
(or 141.142.20.50) with user-id "anonymous" and your user-id and e-mail address as the password-get the file "README.FIRST" for an informative overview of current holdings and FTP instructions.
Each directory, including the root, contains a file named "INDEX" which contains a recursive listing
of the files of that directory and of all subdirectories within it.
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FTP'able software currently available includes: DataScope, Image, Layout, PalEdit, TELNET, Contours,
GelReader, Hypercard Scientific Animation Package, Import2HDF, Reformat/XReformat, SDIFF, PC Show,
ImageTool, DataSlice, X Image, PolyView, Isosurface Visualizer, and CompositeToolarchive.
Software On the CRAYs
Astronomy
MIRIAD
Chemical Engineering
ASPEN PLUS
Chemistry
AMBER
CHAARMm
GAUSSIAN90
MM2
MOPAC
XPLOR
AMPAC
DISCO
GPRLSA
MM2(87)
RANFOLD
BROOHKAVEN PDb
DISCOVER
MACROMODEL
MOLECULE-SWEDEN
RNAFOLD
CADPAC
GAMESS
MINP
FLOW3D
PLOT3d
FLUENT
SALE3D
KIVA II
TURB3D
EMAS
SIGVIEW
HSPICE
SPICE
MSC/EMAS
SUPREM 4
GNUPLOT
NCAR (GKS)
PVI GRAFMAKER
GPLOT
PVI Contouring
PVI Metafile
MOVIE.BYU
PVI DI-3000
Zetavu
BCS
EDA
GLIM
LAPACK
NAG
PCGPAK
SLAM II
SPECFUN
XMP
BCSEXT
EISPACK3
HSML
LASO2
NUMERICAL RECIPES
PORT
SLATEC
SPSS-X
ZOOM
CALMATH
ELLPACK
IMSL
MINOS
RPAC
Computational Fluid Dynamics
FIDAP
PHOENICS
Electrical Engineering
CAzM
PISCES IIB
Graphics
Blaze
MPGS
PVI GK-2000
Mathematics and Statistics
ACM-Algorithms
ECMFFT
FFT
ITPACK
MINPACK
ODEPACK
SCILIB
SPARSE
TOEPLITZ
POSSOL
SMPAK
SSDLIN
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Solid Mechanics and General Engineering
ABAQUS
DYNA3D
NIKE2D
TAURUS
ANSYS
INGRID
NIKE3D
TOPAZ2D
DADS
MAZE
ORION
TOPAZ3D
DYNA2D
MSC/NASTRAN
PATRAN II
BENCHLIB
CFT77
PCC
CDBX
HDF
SCC
CF77
KAP/Cray
Systems and Utilities
AS
CFT
PASCAL
Training
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Education program features supercomputer use for users from kindergarten to advanced researchers;
a strong emphasis also on incorporating scientific visualization techniques into education.
Academic Affiliates Program with members at more than 100 institutions; features special training
and block grants of computer time for members.
Visitors program for faculty, postdoctoral, and student researchers to support working visits to
NCSA.
Renaissance Experimental Laboratory for teaching visualization skills and efforts to incorporate
scientific visualization into course curricula.
Monthly training workshops on introductory and advanced topics including use of the Crays, the
Connection Machine, applications packages, and visualization techniques.
Off-site classes available covering topics of interest to particular remote sites.
Workshops and seminars on specialized topics in various disciplines.
Summer institutes and workshops.
Many training video tapes: vectorization, CRAY architecture, Multi-tasking, etc.
Collaborative Research
❏
❏
Association with the Beckman Institute, an interdisciplinary program for artists, computer scientists,
and researchers in many intellectual disciplines.
Unix mail on the CRAYs (users are encouraged to forward mail to their home systems).
Documentation
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Unix man pages for technical information
Documentation system (originally from CTSS) ported to UNICOS for access to complete manuals
On-line HELP facilities on CRAYs
NCSA Technical Resources Catalog lists documentation available from NCSA or third parties
Innovative video magazine (NCSA RealTime)
New users provided with an extensive startup kit and kept informed via frequent online and printed
materials.
Many documents are available for free or for purchase
Online help is available for both the CRAY and the VAXes
Extensive sets of example programs are available on CFS
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❏
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Bimonthly newsletters: ACCESS and DATALINK
Annual report, entitled "SCIENCE: The State of Knowing," which summarizes NCSA's activities in
the previous year
Consulting
❏
❏
Consulting available via e-mail (24 hours a day) and phone (8am to 5pm central time (see Contact
Summaries below)
On-line HELP and man pages on the CRAYs, help files on the VAXes
Graphics Support
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Strong emphasis on local and remote use of scientific visualization
Workstation tools for graphics analysis
Scientific visualization programs, to which users may apply to have their data produced for use in
high quality graphics presentations
CGM metafile support
Support for remote graphics terminals includes Tektronix 4014, 4105, 4113, 4115/4125, PostScript,
HPGL, Macintosh
Output is mailed to remote users
Media Services facility features video and audio resources, including Silicon Graphics Inc. frame
buffers, Abekas digital disk recorders, D1 format digital VCRs, Macintosh-based digital audio
recording, Betacam SP format analog VCRs, computer-controlled editing and routing, and over 150
other components. Activities supported include transfer of images from computers to video, audio,
hard copy, and film, as well as between the different formats within each of these media; media
processing such as video editing, text generation, electronic paintbox, digital effects, and
compositing; audio recording and editing to further supplement basic imagery; and video field
production for documentary programming and special projects.
Strengths
Strengths:
❏
❏
❏
❏
High performance vector processing
Solid State Disk for fast internal I/O
Scientific visualization
State-of-the-art graphics laboratories
Administrative
❏
❏
❏
❏
Requests for 100 or more service units of CPU time are reviewed by a joint NCSA/Pittsburgh Peer
Review Board quarterly.
Requests for less than 100 service units are made eight times a year.
Applications for less than six service units are reviewed internally by NCSA.
Researchers at affiliate institutions may apply for start-up grants for 1-5 hours on the CRAY
Y/MP4/464 through their campus affiliate representatives.
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The Supercomputing Education Project allocates blocks of five service units on the CRAY
Y/MP4/464 for faculty who use high-performance computing in their classes.
(note: service units are CPU or wall clock hours weighted by different factors for the various computers)
Contact Summaries
Academic Affiliates:
Academic & Industrial
Relations Program:
Accounts / Client
Administration:
Consulting:
Education Program:
Joe Blackmon
(217) 244-1100
[email protected]
Scott Lathrop
(217) 244-1099
[email protected]
u13006@ncsagate
(BITNET)
Judy Olson
(217) 244-0074
[email protected]
uadmin@ncsagate
(BITNET)
(217) 244-1144
[email protected]
consult@ncsagate
(BITNET)
Nora Sabelli
(217) 244-0644
[email protected]
nsabelli@ncsagate
(BITNET)
Faculty Program: Melanie Loots
(217) 244-2921
mloots@ncsa,uiuc.edu
u26400@ncsagate
Media Services:
Orders for software,
publications, videos:
Training:
(BITNET)
Vincent Jurgens
(217) 244-1543
[email protected]
u14998@ncsagate
(BITNET)
Debbie Shirley
(217) 244-4130
[email protected]
docorder@ncsagate
(BITNET)
Lyle Rigdon (information)
(217) 244-3659
[email protected]
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Karen Gobble (registration)
(217) 244-4198
[email protected]
Hardware Status: (217) 244-0710
Network status: (617) 873-3400
Cray Operations: (217) 244-0710
CRAY Y-MP address:
CRAY-2 address:
CM Sun Front-Ends:
VAX/Ultrix gateway
Dial-up Access
Anonymous FTP:
uy.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.101.1)
u2.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.102.2)
cmsun1.ncsa.uiuc.edu
(141.142.220.4)
cmsun2.ncsa.uiuc.edu
(141.142.220.7)
cmsun3.ncsa.uiuc.edu
(141.142.220.8)
ncsagate.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.121.38)
ncsagate
(BITNET)
(217) 244-0664
(2400 Baud or less)
(217) 244-0662
(9600 Baud or less)
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu
(141.142.20.50)
Login Script
The following script shows how to TELNET to the NCSA CRAY, list files, compile and run a job, and logout.
The script assumes that you connect to the CRAY from a local machine which supports the TCP/IP program
TELNET. Prompts are represented by "user>>" for you, "CRAY>>" for the CRAY, "TELN>>" for TELNET, and
"CRus>>" for CRAY responses followed by user entries on the same line. Most CRAY responses are
abbreviated. Comments are preceded by parentheses.
Prompt
Dialog
Comments
user>>
telnet u2.ncsa.uiuc.edu
(TELNET to the CRAY-2)
TELN>>
CRAY>>
CRAY>>
...
CRAY-2 UNICOS 5.0.7 (u2)
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
(TELNET messages)
CRus>>
CRus>>
CRus>>
CRAY>>
CRus>>
CRAY>>
login: your-CRAY-login
Password:your-password
account:your-account
(login to the CRAY)
CRus>>
u2 1% ls -la
.
..
.login
.profile
u2 2% cft77 hello.f
CRus>>
u2 3% segldr -o hello hello.o
(CRAY login messages)
(ask to list your files)
.cshrc
hello.f
(compile program called
"hello.f", generate a
binary object file
called "hello.o")
(load the object file and
create an executable
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CRus>>
CRus>>
u2 4% hello
u2 5% cat fort.6
CRAY>>
CRus>>
Hello world, goodbye world
u2 6% logout
246
file called "hello")
(submit executable file)
(display contents of
output file)
(logoff CRAY and return
to local machine)
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NATIONAL ENERGY RESEARCH SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER (NERSC)
Computer Hardware
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
One CRAY 2/8, two CRAY 2/4s, and an XMP 1/8 for High School Supercomputer Honors Program
(one of the CRAY 2/4s will be removed sometime in early 1992).
Memory sizes are 128 Mwords on the CRAY 2's
Vector and parallel hardware; 2 processors on the CRAY X-MP/24, 8 processors on one of the
CRAY 2s, and 4 processors on each of the CRAY-2s
Permanent storage is implemented on the IBM-based CFS storage system
1500 Gbytes total mass storage
Auxiliary computers include VAXs and other network computers
Software
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
UNICOS 6.1 on the CRAY 2/8 and the CRAY XMP 1/8; The CRAY 2/4 using CRAY Time Sharing
System (CTSS) will be discontinued early 1992; the other CRAY 2/4 is physically located in
Colorado Springs, and runs CSOS (Colorado Springs Operating System, a derivative of UNICOS 5.1
developed by the Cray Computer Corporation).
Auxiliary VAXs use VMS operating system
Editors on the CRAYs include vi, EMACS, and standard Unix editors
FORTRAN compilers: CF77 on UNICOS and F77 on CSOS
Other languages: C, Pascal, and LISP compilers, and CRAY Assembler
CFS is the software used for mass storage
Example sets, sample programs, and extensive documentation can be viewed online through the
DOCVIEW program
Disks with the NERSC CTSSLINK software for IBM PCs and PC-compatibles are available free to
users
Many Unix utilities are available in the CTSS and UNICOS environments
Math
IMSL
NAG
SCILIB
GKS
GRAFLIB
Graphics
DISSPLA
TV80LIB
NCARGKS
Training
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
New user workshops are available both on site and for export
Monthly on-site UNICOS classes
Classes are offered on supercomputer related topics
Work in progress to develop an online tutorial service
A high school Supercomputing Honors Program is offered each summer
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Collaborative Research
❏
❏
❏
E-mail is performed with MAIL and MAILX
Bulletin Board Server and a Mail Server machine being developed
MFENET/ESNET networks supported by this center provide for remote logins, e-mail, and file
transfers to and from nodes on these networks and on the Internet
Documentation
❏
❏
❏
Monthly newsletter, "The BUFFER"
News is supplied by a site-supported bulletin board called "news"
A VMS-like HELP is available
Consulting
❏
❏
Phone consulting Mondays through Fridays, 8:00--11:45 a.m., 12:45-4:45 p.m.
Online e-mail consulting via mail to [email protected]
Graphics Support
❏
❏
❏
❏
A DICOMED camera is available to remote users for film, slides, and fiche
Remote graphics terminals supported include most Tektronix displays and IBM PCs and compatibles
Output is mailed free of charge to users at remote sites
Facilities for PostScript output are being explored
Strengths
❏
❏
❏
Highly optimized vector processing
Large memory machines
A network connecting energy research sites provides for collaboration and exchange of information
between researchers
Administrative
❏
Most allocations are made by applying to the Department of Energy (DOE)
Contact Summaries
Consulting:
Accounts:(passwords and ID's):
Allocations:
Training:
(510) 422-1544
(800) 66NERSC
(510) 422-2888
(510) 422-1544
(510) 422-1544
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Hardware status:
Network status:
Direct CRAY connection:
249
(510) 422-4283
(510) 422-4283
f.nersc.gov (128.55.64.120)
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Login Script
The following script shows how to TELNET to the NERSC CRAYs, login, transfer files from a local account to
the CRAY using FTP (NERSC currently has a limited number of FTP functions installed), list files,
compile/load/execute a program, and then logout. It assumes that you connect to the CRAY from some local
machine which supports the TCP/IP TELNET program.
Prompts are represented by "user>>" for you, "TELN>>" for TELNET, "CRAY>>" for the CRAY, and "CRus>>"
for CRAY responses followed by user entries on the same line. Comments are preceded by parentheses. Most
CRAY responses are abbreviated using the "..." ellipsis notation. This script has been tested from the University
of Washington:
Prompt
Dialog
Comments
user>>
TELN>>
CRus>>
CRus>>
CRAY>>
user>>
CRus>>
telnet f.nersc.gov
...
ID: usernumber
Password: password
...
ftp
FTP> connect 128.95.137.4
CRAY>>
...
(TELNET to the CRAY)
(TELNET messages)
(enter CRAY usernumber)
(enter CRAY password)
(CRAY login messages)
(start FTP)
(make connection with FTP
to your local account)
(FTP messages)
CRus>>
MAX.U.WASHINGTON.EDU> login user-id ctrl-z password
(note that the user-id and
password must be entered on
the same line, the ctrl-z is
required to mask the password)
CRus>>
MAX.U.WASHINGTON.EDU> get hello.for hello.f
(now get your program with FTP
your local account and send to the
CRAY)
CRAY>>
...
file transfer messages from FTP
CRus>>
MAX.U.WASHINGTON.EDU> quit
CRAY>>
user>>
CRAY>>
...
ls
hello.f
(quit FTP and return to CRAY
session)
(more FTP messages)
(ask to list your files)
user>>
CF77 hello
(compile and load your
FORTRAN program)
user>>
ctrl-d
(control-d logs you off the CRAY)
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PITTSBURGH SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER (PSC)
Hardware
Cray Y-MP/832 with 8 processors, 32 million words of memory, and a high speed (156 Mword/second) 128
million word Solid-State Storage Device (SSD)
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
A maximum of 25 Mwords per user
6.0 ns clock; maximum speed 2.6 gigaflops
High performance parallel and vector hardware
Very large temporary storage per user
Unlimited permanent storage in IBM based Common File System using hierarchical directories
Users can request dedicated time.
Connection Machine CM-2 with 32,768 processors, 1 gigabyte of memory, and 10 gigabytes of high speed storage
on the DataVault. The processors work in parallel. Each processor has 32 Kbytes of memory associated with it,
for a total of 1 gigabyte for the machine.
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Users may use 8K, 16K, or 32K processors at once
1,024 64-bit floating point accelerator chips
Maximum speed in the gigaflop range
Temporary space and permanent storage space available on the Andrew File System (afs) through the
CM-2's front-ends (see later for more information on afs)
Driven by three front-ends: CMVAX, a VAX running Ultrix, and two SUN 4-470s running Unix,
SUNA and SUNB. CM applications are executed on the front-ends. Those parts of the application
which benefit from parallel processing are executed on the CM-2, while those which are serial
remain on the front-end and are processed there.
Users can request dedicated time.
Three front-ends which drive the CM-2 (see section on CM-2 above)
Two Vax 6420s (CPWSCA and CPWSCB) running VMS from which you can reach either the Y-MP
or the CM-2's front ends. Users have 10,000 blocks of permanent storage and a large amount of
temporary storage.
Two Vaxstation 5100s (PSCUXA and PSCUXB) running Ultrix from which you can reach either the
Y-MP or the CM-2's front-ends. These front-ends use afs as their file system. Users have 10,000
1024-byte blocks of permanent storage on afs and a limited amount of temporary space.
Software:
Y-MP
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
UNICOS
Editors include EMACS, vi, ed and LSEDIT (Language sensitive editor for CFT77)
FORTRAN: CFT77, and FORGE (an aid to vectorization)
CF77 compiling system includes CFT77, automatic optimization and autotasking, and loader.
Other languages: C (with vectorization support), Pascal
Mass storage: Common File System (CFS) with automatic tape storage and retrieval
A large examples system, containing sample jobs, data and the resulting output are publicly available
.
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❏
Downloadable public domain software
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Front-ends run either Ultrix or Unix.
Editors on front-ends include EMACS, vi and ed
Languages: FORTRAN (cmf), C and Lisp
Mass storage: AFS (see below)
Examples system containing sample jobs, data and the resulting output are publicly available
CM-2
Biology
ALIGN
CONSORT
GENBANK
MDPP
PICKEMBL
SEQA
SEQ_FILE
BROOKHAVEN
ECD
IB_TO_GB
MSA
PICKGEN
SEQH
SEQUIN
CLUSTER
EMBL
MAKSEQ
MSC
PROFILE
SEQHP
XPLOR
CONSENSUS
ENZYME GCG
MAXSEGS
NWGAP
REBASE
XRFORM
AMPAC
CHELP
GPRLSA
NBRF
RANFOLD
ST
AMPS
DISTAN
GROMOS
POLYRATE
RNAFOLD
SWEDEN
CADPAC40
GAMESS90
MOPAC
PROSITE
SN
SWISS
FLOW3D
STEAM
Chemistry
AMBER
CHARMM
GAUSSIAN
MULFOLD
PROTIN
SP
Computational Fluid Dynamics
FIDAP
Electrical
SPICE
SPLICE
Engineering
KIVA
FORTRAN Utilities
BENCHM
FORTOOLS
RECIPES
CHRPAK
FSPLIT
TOKENS
CLEAN77
FTREF
TOOLPACK
FORCHEK
LOOPMARK
V77
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Graphics
ANIMATOR
DRAW
GPLOT
IMAGETOOL
MOVIE6
NCARGKS2
PDBMODEL
REQUESTAPE
SLIDEMAKING
TEXTMAKER
CODEBOOK
DRAWCGM
GPLOTM
LVR
MOVIETOP3D
NCARGKS3
PLT2
RLECAT
SMDLIB
TIFFTORLE
DI3000
DRAWP3D
GRAPHX
MACGPLOT
NAVIEW
ORION
PNMTOCGM
RLETOCGM
SMONGO
TITLEMAKER
DISSPLA11
EDA
GTEX
MARCHP3D
NCARDSL
PAL2RGB
POLYP3D
SGML
TAURUS
AMOS
BAILEY
BDMG
BORMAT
CGLIB
CYCLE
DVERK
EISPACK
ELLPACK
FITPACK
GBSOL
HSSXEV
INTLIB
LAPACK
LINPACK
LSOLVE
MATHLIB
MP
NL2SOL
PCHIP
PLTMG
RANPACK
SCILIB
SPARBLAS
SPECFUN
SYMPAK
TESTNON
VCFT
YSMP
AMOSLIB
BANDIT
BIHAR
BSMP
CMLIB
DASSL
DYNA2D
EISPACKC
FFTPACK
FN
GQOPT
IMSLDOC
ITPACK2C
LASO
LINWOOD
LSQR
MATMUL
MUDPACK
NMS
PDECOL
POLPAK
RECIPESC
SGEFAC
SPARSE
SPLPAK
TESTLP
TOEPLITZ
VE1
ZERO
APML
BCSLIB
BIVAR
BVPSOL
COLNEW
DIERCKX
DYNA3D
ELEFUNT
FFTPACK
FUNPACK
HARWELL
IMSL11
ITPACKV2D
LBENCH
LLSQ
LUSP
MFFT
NAG
ODE
PDEONE
QFEPDE
REDUCE
SLAP
SPARSKIT
SSDLIN
TESTMAT
TOMS
VFFTPK
ANSYS
NIKE2D
TOPAZ3D
BOPACE
NIKE3D
FACET
SAP4
Mathematics
ALFPACK
AUTO
BCSLIBEXT
BLAS
CALMATH
COMPAR
DRIV
EFUN
ELLPACK
FISHPAK32
GAMS
HBSMC
INGRID
JAKEF
LBENCHC
LOPSI
MAPLE
MINPACK
NAPACK
ODEPACK
PITCON
QUADPACK
RKF45
SLATEC31
SPARSPAK
SUBSET
TESTNLS
UNCMIN
Y12M
Mechanics
ABAQUS
MAZE
TOPAZ2D
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Programming Languages
ALISP
FORTRAN
C
GCC
C++
LISP
CAL
PASCAL
ODRPACK
TLS
ODRPACKX
STARPAC
Simulation
CASCADE
Statistics
APSTAT
STATLIB
Utilities--Benchmarks/Debugging/Optimization/Tracing/Vectorization
BOUNDS
DHRYSTONEC
HPM
NASKER
PROCSTAT
SLALOM
CDBX
EXPORTS
LIVERMORE
PARANOIA
PROF
TESTUCON
CM_TIMER
FLOWTRACE
MACHAR
PERFECT
PSR
TESTVECTOR
DEBUG
FORGE
MACHINE
PERFTRACE
SCOUNT
WHETSTONE
D2S
PAD
TAR2VMS
DETAB
SGREP
UUENCODE
CMNQS
NQS
DEDCPU
PSCSUB
DHSC
YJANUS
CDECL
SPR
CONDENSE
Utilities--File Conversion / Processing
COMPRESS
ETAPE
STRIPPER
VMS2TAR
CONVERT
LINES
TAIL
XTRACT
Utilities--File Systems
AFS
CFS
Utilities--Job handling, Accounting
BENCHLIB
HELPER
YSUB
Utilities--Miscellaneous
BISON
SETUP
CSORT
Andrew File System:
The Andrew File System (afs) is a distributed network file system used on PSC front-ends PSCUXA, PSCUXB,
CMVAX, SUNA, and SUNB. PSC plans to make afs available on all of its machines. Users therefore maintain
one set of files, accessible from all machines. It is not necessary to keep multiple copies of files or to transfer files
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back and forth between the various front-ends. Automatic daily backups are done. PSC maintains documentation,
examples, libraries, executables and source code on afs in a single location which is accessible from all machines.
Each user has a quota of 10,000 1024-byte blocks of permanent storage. A limited amount of temporary storage is
also available.
The Biomedical Initiative:
PSC received a grant from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Division of Research Resources' Biomedical
Research Technology program to provide the biomedical community with supercomputing resources, training, and
user support. Two biomedical specialists, with large-scale computational backgrounds, are available to support
the supercomputing activities.
Distributed High Speed Computing:
The Distributed High Speed Computing (DHSC) project at PSC aims to provide an easy to use interface to the
HiPPI (High Performance Parallel Interface) link between the Center's Cray YMP/832 and 32K processor
Connection Machine. This HiPPI network link between the Cray and the CM is capable of transmitting data at
rates of up to 100 MBytes/Sec. Through the use of Distributed High Speed Computing, users are able to partition
applications between the Cray and the CM, thus choosing the most appropriate type of supercomputer to solve
different portions of the application. Because of the vastly different kinds of problems which can be solved on the
Cray and the Connection Machine, some applications will see significant speedups in overall execution time via
this approach.
The DHSC project is embodied in a set of library routines, callable from CFT77 and Standard C on the Cray, and
CMFortran, C*, and C-Paris on the Connection Machine. These library calls provide a simple interface to transfer
data between programs running in parallel on the two machines. Control issues (such as synchronization of flow)
and data conversion issues (such as parallel to serial and IEEE to Cray floating point conversions) are handled
internally by the libraries, freeing the user from these low level concerns.
Training:
New User Workshops
❏
❏
❏
Cray Techniques workshop (5 days)
Connection Machine Techniques workshop (5 days)
Summer Institute (2 weeks)
Advanced-User Workshops
❏
❏
❏
❏
Code Optimization (one day)
Multitasking (one day)
Visualization (one day)
Optimization of FORTRAN Code for Parallel Shared-Memory Systems (4 days)
Discipline-Specific Workshops
❏
❏
Introduction to Gaussian: Theory and Practice (5 days)
National Institutes of Health Workshops
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Through grants from the National Institutes of Health, the PSC offers a series of workshops dedicated to the
biomedical research community, including an overview of biomedical software and databases available at PSC.
Topics presented have included molecular mechanics and dynamics, macromolecular structure refinement, nucleic
acid and protein sequence analysis, fluid dynamics with immersed flexible structures, and image reconstruction
from Electron Microscopy. Topic-specific workshops are provided on an "as-needed" basis and new workshops
are under continual development.
Documentation:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Many vendor and hundreds of PSC publications online, including policy, allocations and user guides
CRAY manuals mailed via UPS
List of documents is available online
Hot tips and news appear in BULLETIN, and rn. BULLETIN and rn are bulletin board systems on
the VMS front-ends and the Ultrix front-ends, respectively. Notices are also posted on 'news' on the
Y-MP.
Online help includes man pages on every PSC system.
PSC Users Guide mailed to all users.
Online EXAMPLES system contains complete job setups.
An annual report "Projects in Scientific Computing" highlights the scientific projects completed at
PSC
Consulting:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Phone consulting available M-F 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Eastern time)
E-mail consulting via user-id REMARKS
Online man pages
Discipline-specific consulting
"life-cycle" consulting: starting with algorithm selection through data layout, programming, and
program optimization for CM users.
Graphics Support:
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
CGM metafile support
CGM-based video animation system for VHS tape and videodisk
Support for remote graphics terminals includes many devices; also PSC is willing to acquire or
develop drivers for nearly any modern device on request.
VHS tape output mailed to remote users
On-site graphics labs with Silicon Graphics IRIS, SUN Sparcstation, IBM RS6000, and DECStation
5000.
Capability to make 35mm color slides using Matrix Instruments SlideWriter
Color output from Cannon CLC-500 color copier/printer
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Administrative:
❏
❏
Small allocations (10 hours or less) are reviewed quickly by PSC staff. Larger allocations (over 100
hours) are reviewed by the joint PSC/NCSA Peer Review Board. Intermediate size allocations (1199 units) are reviewed internally subject to confirmation by outside reviews via U.S. Postal mail.
Starter grants are available for any researcher who wishes to explore the use of the PSC.
Contact summaries:
Consulting
Accounts
Allocations
Training
Hardware status
Network status
Front-end Internet addresses
CM-2 front-end Internet addresses
Cray Internet address
(412) 286-4960
(412) 286-4960
Allocations Coordinator
(412) 286-4960 or
[email protected]
(412) 286-4960
(412) 286-4960
(412) 286-4960
a.psc.edu (VMS)
b.psc.edu (VMS)
pscuxa.psc.edu (Ultrix)
pscuxb.psc.edu (Ultrix)
cmvax.psc.edu (Ultrix)
suna.psc.edu (Ultrix)
sunb.psc.edu (Ultrix)
pscymp.psc.edu
Login Script
The following script shows how to connect to the font end VMS VAX, login, create and a job which submits
'hello.f' to the CRAY, and then logout. It assumes that you connect to the front end from some local machine
which supports the TCP/IP TELNET program.
Prompts are represented by "user>>" for you, "PSC>" for the frontend, "TELN>>" for TELNET, and "PSCus>>"
for frontend responses followed by user entries on the same line. Most responses are abbreviated. Comments are
preceded by parentheses.
Prompt
user>>
TELN>>
PSCus>>
PSCus>>
PSC>>
user>>
Dialog
TELNET a.psc.edu
...
Username: user-id
Password: password
...
emacs hello.job
#USER=user-id PW=password
#QSUB -lM 0.8 Mw
#QSUB -lT 5
ja
date
set -x
cd $TMP
Comments
(TELNET to the front end)
(TELNET messages)
(PSC login messages)
(create the following job
(to submitted to the CRAY)
(CRAY from the VAX later
with the csubmit command)
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fetch hello.f -t 'usr$root0:[user-id]hello.f
cf77 hello.f limsl11
mv a.out hello.exe
hello.exe > results
cfs -r5 store results
rm hello.exe hello.f
date
ja -st
user>>
PSC>>
user>>
PSC>>
PSC>>
PSC>>
PSC>>
PSC>>
PSC>>
PSC>>
user>>
cray
The Cray Station is available
csubmit hello.job
%CX-S-SUB_OK, Job: Hello queued for submission
VAX TO CRAY:%SYSTEM-S-NORMAL, normal successful
completion
VAX TO CRAY: FILE=HELLO
VAX TO CRAY: 1215 BYTES TRANSFERRED
CRAY TO VAX: %RMS-S-NORMAL, normal successful completion
CRAY TO VAX: FILE=$1$DUA102:[USR2.USERID]HELLO.OUT;1
CRAY TO VAX: 34 BYTES TRANSFERRED
logout
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SAN DIEGO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER (SDSC)
Computer Hardware
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
CRAY Y-MP8/864 running UNICOS
Up to 32 Mwords main memory per user
6 ns clock; a maximum of 2.7 Gflops for the entire system; up to 337 maximum Mflops per CPU
Vector processing hardware
65 Gbytes online temporary storage
128 MWord SSD
Intel iPSC/860, 64 nodes
8 MBytes of memory per node totaling 512 MBytes
Peak speed of 2.6 Gflops (for 32-bit arithmetic)
nCUBE 2, 128 nodes
64 nodes with 16 MByes of memory each
64 nodes with 4 Mbytes of memory each
Total memory 1.3 Gbytes
Peak speed of 420 Mflops (for 32-bit arithmetic)
DataTree for file storage on an Amdahl 5860
Software
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
UNICOS on the CRAY Y-MP
Editor: vi, emacs, and standard Unix line editors on the CRAY Y/MP
FORTRAN: CFT77 vectorizing compiler
Other languages: Pascal (vectorizing), CC (ANSI C vectorizing compiler), CRAY C, AS (CRAY
Assembly language)
Extensive example programs are available.
Biology
DRAW
RANFOLD
FASTA
RNAFOLD
GenBank DB
SN
PIR DB
AMPAC
CHARM
DISCOVER
GAUSSIAN 88
MMTOOLS
POLYRATE
VENUS
BIGSTRN-3
CHELP
DMOL
GAUSSIAN 90
MMX
PROLSQ
X-PLOR
CADPAC
CORMA
ECEPP2
GROMOS
MOPAC
PSI77
NETSCAT
PRECISE
SPICE
Chemistry
AMBER
CAMBGIDGE DB
DGEOM
GAMESS
MM2
MPLOT
QCFF/PI
Electrical
HSPICE
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260
UMSPICE
Mechanics
ABAQUS
CSQ
FIDAP
FLUENT/BFC
MOLDFLOW
NIKE3D
TOPAZ2D
ADINA
DYNA2D
FLOTRAN
INGRID
MPGS
ORION
TOPAZ3D
ANSYS
DYNA3D
FLOW-3D
INS3D
MSC/NASTRAN
STARDYNE
CONTINUSYS
FACET
FLUENT
MAZE
NIKE2D
TAURUS
BCS
HARWELL
IMSLSTAT
LIBSCI
MUDPACK
ODEPACK
SLATEC
TOEPLITZ
BCS-EXT
HOMPACK
ITPACKV
MATLAB
NAG
OMNI
SMPAK
TOMS
DASSL
IMSLMATH
LAPACK
MINOS
NREG77
PLTMG
SPARSPAK
VECTFFT
ELLPACK
IMSLSFUN
LASO
MINPACK
NSPCG
SLAP
SPSS-X
GKSNCAR
MOVIE.BYU
XDATASLICE
GKSUL
NCARGRAPHICS
XIMAGE
GNUPLOT
PLOTXY
DOS
REBUS
ENDF DB
SABRINA
MCNP
TRANSX
Math
Graphics
DISSPLA
HDF
VOGLE
Nuclear Engineering
DIF3D
NJOY
TWOHEX
Training
❏
❏
❏
Two-day workshops for new users are held at the beginning of each quarter and at remote sites when
requested.
Advanced workshops are available on specialized topics, such as vectorization and visualization,
both on-site and for export.
Summer Institute for those with developed code: the applications are reviewed by an SDSC
committee and are open to faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and industry.
Collaborative Research
❏
❏
Visiting scientists program
Research Fellows program for undergrads, postdoctoral, and senior staff
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Documentation
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
Over 150 complete user documents are available online for viewing and/or printing.
Over 3,000 man pages are online including over 300 locally developed.
Hot tips and news is available in NEWS.
The bi-monthly newsletter is called "Gather/Scatter."
Users Guide is given to all users.
Extensive examples and instructions on their use is available online.
Annual report titled "Science at the San Diego Supercomputer Center 19xx"
An overview brochure that includes an application for computing resources
Consulting
❏
❏
❏
Phone consulting is available 8am-5pm Monday-Friday Pacific time.
Online consulting is through MAIL [email protected]
Discipline-specific consulting is available in most applications.
Graphics Support
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
A Management Graphics Solitaire-8 digital film recorder
Matrix 6264 analog film recorder
Lasergraphics LFR Macintosh film recorder
Hewlett Packard Paintwriter color Macintosh printer
Complete audio and video post-production facility for animations
Complete set of image manipulation and conversion software
Rendering software including Alias, Wavefront, and Renderman
Output mailed to your site
Strengths
❏
❏
❏
❏
❏
MIMD parallel computing
Networking--infrastructure and research
Visualization
Large collection of applications and math software
High performance vectorization
Administrative
❏
❏
Allocations for large blocks of time are reviewed by an allocation committee and must be submitted
60 days prior to each quarter
Small allocations (1-20 hours) may be submitted any time
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Contact Summaries
Consulting:
Accounts:
Allocations:
Training:
Hardware status:
Network status:
CRAY Internet address:
(619) 534-5100
[email protected]
(619) 534-5100
Dr. Rozeanne Steckler
(619) 534-5120
[email protected]
Ms. Jayne Waggoner
(619) 534-5124
[email protected]
(619) 534-5100
(619) 534-5100
y1.sdsc.edu (132.249.10.1)
Login Script
The following script shows how to TELNET to the San Diego CRAY, login, list files, compile and execute a
simple FORTRAN program, and then logout. It assumes that you connect to the CRAY from some local machine
which supports the TCP/IP TELNET program.
Prompts are represented by "user>>" for you, "TELN>>" for TELNET, "CRAY>>" for the CRAY, and "CRus>>"
for CRAY responses followed by user entries on the same line. Comments are preceded by parentheses. Most
CRAY responses are abbreviated using the "..." ellipsis notation. Note that the system prompts on the SDSC
CRAY Y/MP currently have the form "y1-n%" where "n" is the line number
Prompt
user>>
TELN>>
CRus>>
CRus>>
CRAY>>
CRus>>
Dialog
telnet y1.sdsc.edu
...
login: your-CRAY-login
Password: your-password
...
y1-1% ls
hello.f
Comments
(TELNET to the CRAY)
(TELNET messages)
(login to the CRAY)
CRus>>
y1-2% cf77 -o hello hello.f
CRus>>
CRus>>
y1-3% hello
y1-4% logout
(compile "hello.f" code
and generate executable file
called "hello"
(execute "hello" program)
(logoff CRAY, return to
your local machine)
(CRAY login messages)
(ask to list your files)
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264
Trademarks and Copyrights
Apollo is a trademark of Apollo Computer, Inc.
Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
BRS/Search is a copyright of BRS Software Products
ConneXions and Interop are trademarks of the Advanced Computing Environments.
CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research, Inc.
Cray X-MP, Cray Y-MP, and Cray 2 are trademarks of Cray Research, Inc.
DEC, DECNET, TOP-20, Ultrix, VAX, and VMS are registered trademarks of the Digital Equipment Corporation.
DYNIX is a trademark of Sequent Computer Systems Inc.
Dow Jones News/Retrieval is a registered trademark of Dow Jones and Company, Inc.
Fido and FidoNet are trademarks of Tom Jennings.
Geographic Nameserver is a copyright of Merit, Inc.
IBM, IBM PC, PC/XT. PC/AT and OS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation.
IEEE is a trademark of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Knowbot is a trademark of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives
Macintosh is a trademark licensed to Apple Computer, Inc.
Microsoft and MS-DOS are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Inc.
QUIPU is a trademark of NYSERNet, Inc.
SAS is a trademark of SAS Institute, Inc.
Telenet and Tele-mail are trademarks of Telenet Communications Corporation.
Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories.
Word Perfect is a trademark of the Word Perfect Corporation.
Xerox is a registered trademark of Xerox Corporation.
Trademarks and Copyrights
NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource Guide
265
Trademarks and Copyrights
How Did We Do?
We are eager to know what you thought about NUSIRG so we can improve the next edition. You can use FTP to
get an electronic copy of this form from the NorthWestNet Network Information Center:
FTP Host:
directory:
file:
ftphost.nwnet.net
nic/nwnet/users-guide
feedback.doc
Send your "marked-up" file via electronic mail to: [email protected]
Or if you have a printed copy of this document, you can fill it out and send it by postal mail to:
NorthWestNet
15400 SE 30th Place, Suite 202
Bellevue, WA 98007
NUSIRG Evaluation Form
______ Overall Evaluation
(10 = excellent, 1 = poor)
______ Effectiveness
(10 = excellent, 1 = poor)
______ Usefulness of examples
(10 = excellent, 1 = poor)
______ Problems with examples
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(10 = very useful, 1 = not very useful,
0 = never looked them up)
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(10 = too complex, 5 = just right, 1 = too simple)
Trademarks and Copyrights
If you have other comments and suggestions which you'd like to make, here's your chance!
Comments on Your Overall Impression of NUSIRG:
Comments on NUSIRG's Effectiveness:
Comments on NUSRIG's Examples:
All examples in NUSIRG have been previously tested. However, there are inevitably unanticipated problems at
remote sites, so please let us know about any problems you experienced so modifications can be made to avoid
recurrence.
Examples which gave you problems:
What happened?
What kind of computer hardware were you using? (computer, modem, etc.)
What kind of computer software? (terminal emulation program, etc.)
Other Comments?
Trademarks and Copyrights
Comments on NUSIRG's Level and Style
Other Examples and Resources for Future NUSIRG Editions:
We're constantly on the "look-out" for additional resources to include in NUSIRG. If you have suggestions,
please send pointers or descriptive text to [email protected] or hardcopy via U.S. Post to NorthWestNet at the
address listed on the first page of this form.
Trademarks and Copyrights
Optional Contact Information:
Your Name
__________________________________________
Position and/or Title
__________________________________________
User-id
__________________________________________
Preferred Internet Address
__________________________________________
Background Information
To make the most use of the comments of yourself and others, we'd like some background information about each
respondent so we know how to categorize your responses.
1. Please mark the one personal identifier which best describes you.
___ K-12 student
___ K-12 teacher
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___ librarian
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___ technical support staff member
___ computer manager
___ computer network manager
___ other
2. Years of experience using computers:
_____
3. Years of experience using computer networks:
_____
Thanks for your input. We'll make every effort to act on your suggestions!
INDEX
@
A
@, defined, 8, 23-24
ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), 15
addresses
Internet networks, see Internet, addresses
Trademarks and Copyrights
non-Internet networks, see electronic mail
gateways
Advantage Foundation, 100
USENET discussion groups about, 52
BinHex, 51
Biology
Aeronautical Navigation
databases, online, 124
supercomputer software, 252, 259
BITNET, 13
Agriculture
and LISTSERV, see LISTSERV
databases, online, 26, 125
Almanac electronic mail server, 26, 99, 182-83
sending electronic mail to, 36
BLANCA, 240
AlterNet
contact information, 201
Amdahl's Law
and optimizing compilers, 226
Andrew File System, 254
Annenberg Foundation, 181
ANS
contact information, 201
Applelink
sending electronic mail to, 36
ARC, 51
archie, 65-69
accessing by e-mail, 66
sample TELNET session, 67-68
syntax, 66
archived files, 49
archives, see FTP, file archives
Area Studies
databases, online, 123, 125, 126
ARPANET, 7, 10
Artificial Intelligence
C
cache memory
and supercomputers, 219
career development
databases, online, 125
Census
databases, online (Canada), 122
databases, online (U.S.), 131
CERFnet, 11
contact information, 198
Chatback, 175
Chemical Engineering
supercomputer software, 241
Chemistry
archives of software, 131
supercomputer software, 241, 252, 259
CICnet, 11
contact information, 198
bibliographies, online, 126
CNSF (Cornell National Supercomputer Facility),
231-35
databases, online, 127
Colorado Supernet
Astronomy
archives of software, 128
bibliographies, online, 128, 129
contact information, 198
commercial networks, 180
contact information, 201
databases, online, 128, 129, 130
compressed files, 49-50
supercomputer software, 241
CompuServe
sending electronic mail to, 36
B
Computational Fluid Dynamics
supercomputer software, 231, 241, 252
BARRNet, 11, 177
contact information, 198
BBSs (Bulletin Board Services), 185
bibliographies, online, 119-47
binary files
and FTP, 50
computer software
databases, online, 132
FTP archives, 132, also see Archie
CONCERT Network
contact information, 198
Connection Machine
Trademarks and Copyrights
and parallel architecture, 220, 221
and WAIS, 148
E
at NCAR, 236
at NCSA, 240
EARN, 13
at PSC, 251
Earth Kids project, 175
at supercomputer sites, 219
Ecology and Environment
consumer affairs
databases, online, 125
COSMIC, 132
CRAY Macro and Microtasking, 223
CRAY supercomputers, 219
and parallel architecture, 220
at NCAR, 236
at NCSA, 240
at NERSC, 247
at PSC, 251
at SDSC, 259
CREN (Corporation for Research and Educational
Networking), 13
CSNET, 13
CULDAT (Canadian Union List of Machine
Readable Data Files), 122
databases, online, 128, 134
simulation software, 134
Economics
databases, online, 123, 125
EDUCOM, 16
Electrical Engineering
supercomputer software, 241, 252
electronic books, 98-102
LISTSERV discussion group, 102
electronic journals, 96
and K-12 education, 186
list of journals, 197
comprehensive directory, 97
subscribing, 96
electronic libraries, see OPACs
electronic mail, 20-39
and K-12 education, 182-83
D
basic introduction, 20-25
compared to postal mail, 21-24
DARPA, 7
etiquette, 28-33
databases, online, 119-47
mailbox, 25
and K-12 education, 187
signature file, 29
general interest, 123, 125
software, 24-25
DDN (Data Defense Network), 10
DECnet
sending electronic mail to, 36
directory services, 158-69
stylistic conventions, 28-30
technical references, 27
electronic mail gateways, 34-39
online list of, 37
astronomers, 127
published compendia of, 37
table of services and syntaxes, 163
table of examples, 36-37
Disabled Data Link Group, 175
DISNET, 10
Distance Education
and K-12 education, 188
databases of information about, 135
DNS (Domain Name System), see Internet,
addresses
domain, 9
electronic mail servers, 25-27
online list of, 27
sample session, 26
Electronics
supercomputer software, 231
Engineering
supercomputer software, 231, 242, 252
ENZYME database, 137
ESnet (Energy Sciences Network), 10
sending electronic mail to, 36
Trademarks and Copyrights
databases, online, 140
Grants and Contracts
F
databases of, online, 141
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
graphics
software for personal computers
FTP archive at NCSA, 241
FTP archives of, 77
in USENET newsgroups, 77
supercomputer software, 232, 236, 241, 247,
253, 260
FidoNet
description, 179
sending electronic mail to, 36
Gutenberg, Project, 26, 98-100
contact information, 100
file archiving programs, 49
electronic texts by e-mail server, 99
example of how to use, 50-51
electronic texts by FTP, 99
explained, 49
LISTSERV discussion group, 102
getting a comprehensive list, 52
file compression, 49-50
example of how to uncompress, 50-51
USENET discussion groups about, 52
file compression programs
getting a comprehensive list, 52
file directories
anonymous FTP hosts, 40-41
root directory, 40
flame-war, defined, 80
H
HEPNET (High Energy Physics Network), 10
History
databases, online, 142
host, 9
I
FrEdMail Foundation
contact information, 213
Free-Net, 123
FTP (File Transfer Protocol), 39-48
IBM 3090 supercomputer, 219
and parallel architecture, 220
at CNSF, 231
anonymous, 39-46
brief sample session, 41
expanded sample session, 42-46
online list of hosts, 48
short list of FTP hosts, 42
IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), 16
basic commands, 42
INFO-SOUTH, 125
copying files, 44
Interbit (Internet-BITNET) gateways, 35
online help, 47
Internet
technical references, 48
independent memory banks
and supercomputers, 219
operation of, 219
addresses, 8-9
FTP file archives, 39-46, also see Archie
basic description, 6-18
FTP hosts
general references, 13, 14
defined, 39
Internet Protocols
technical references, 13, 15
organization in the U.S., 9
G
support and training for K-12 educators, 177
gateways, see electronic mail gateways
Gene-Server database, 137
Genetics
databases, online, 135-40
Internet Society, The, 16
INTEROP, 16
IP address (Internet Protocol address), see
Internet, addresses
IuBIO software archives, 131, 138
Geography
Trademarks and Copyrights
J
M
JANET
mailbox, see electronic mail, mailbox
sending electronic mail to, 36
JVNCNet, 11
contact information, 198
Maple software archives, 145
Mathematica software archives, 145
MATLAB numeric computation archives, 143
MCI
sending electronic mail to, 36
K
Mechanics
supercomputer software, 232, 242, 253, 260
K-12 education and the Internet, 170-214
conferences, 189
databases of curricular activities, 129
network etiquette, 187
Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank (MEMDB),
142
Merit
contact information, 198
online databases suitable for, 125, 129
online interest groups, 194
Meteorology
periodicals, 189
databases, online, 123
references, 188
research networks, see USAN
sources of funding, 181
supercomputer support, see NCAR
K12 Net
metropolitan networks, 12
contact information, 213
MFENET (Magnetic Fusion Energy Network), 10
description, 179
MichNet
contact information, 198
file archives, 184
Knowbot Information Server (KIS), 162, 163
MIDnet, 11
contact information, 198
sample session, 164-65
MILNET, 10
Molecular Biology
L
bibliographies, online, 139
databases, online, 135-40
LANL, 12
software archives, 138
Latin American Database (LADB), 126
LiMB (Listing of Molecular Biology Databases),
135
supercomputer software, 252, 259
MRNet, 11
contact information, 199
LISTSERV, 86-93
and K-12 education, 186
list of lists, 191-93
Music
lyrics archives, 145
basic commands, 89
example of how to use, 88
N
LISTDB, 91
LISTSERV defined, 87
LISTSERVer defined, 87
Literature
databases, online, 143
Los Nettos, 11
contact information, 198
National Archives Center for Electronic Records,
122
National Public Telecommunications Network
(NPTN), 185
and K-12 education, 180
contact information, 214
National Space Science Data Center, 128
Trademarks and Copyrights
NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric
Research), 236-39
NCSA (National Center for Supercomputer
Applications), 240-46
supercomputer software, 260
NUSIRG
how to use, 3-6
Beckman Institute, 242
NWACC (Northwest Academic Computing
Consortium, Inc.), iii
Renaissance Experimental Laboratory, 242
NYSERNet, 11
NCSANet, 12
contact information, 199
nCUBE
at San Diego Supercomputer Center, 259
NEARnet, 11
contact information, 199
NERSC (National Energy Research
Supercomputer Center), 247-50
NETillinois
O
OARnet
contact information, 199
OPACs (Online Public Access Catalogs), 102-18
and K-12 education, 183-84
contact information, 199
basic references for using, 104
Netlib mathematical archives, 144
online discussions about, 118
NevadaNet
sample session, 105
contact information, 199
Newsday project, 175
NICs (Network Information Centers), 12, 177
suggested search strategies, 105
optimizing compilers
and supercomputers, 225-26
NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol), 71
NOAA, 124
NOCs (Network Operation Centers), 12
NOCs (Network Operations Centers), vii, 177
explained, 225
Oregon Extension Service, 26
Oxford Text Archives, 101
NorthWestNet, iii-iv, 11, 177
acceptable use of, v
P
annual meetings, iii
contact information, 199
described, iii
NOC (Network Operations Center), vii-viii
diagnostic tools repository, viii
domain name services, viii
NMS (Network Management Station), vii
services offered, iii, 178
PackIt, 51
parallel architectures
and supercomputers, 220
parallel processing
explained, 223-25
PENpages, 125, 187
personal computers and the Internet
NPTN (National Public Telecommunications
Network), 123
FTP archives of software, 132
NREN (National Research and Education
Network), iii, 9, 17, 177
TCP/IP software, 64
FTP software, 41, 47
structure of, iii
TELNET use, 54
to obtain current information, 17
USENET newsreader software, 74
NSF (National Science Foundation)
and NREN, iii
NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network),
vi, 10, 176
backbone sites, 11
NSN (NASA Science Network), 10
Nuclear Engineering
Physics Information Network (PINET), 145
PKZIP, 51
Political Science
bibliographies, online, 141
databases, online, 123
Population Genetics
bibliography, online, 136
Trademarks and Copyrights
PREPnet, 11
contact information, 199
Southwest Research Data Display and Analysis
System, 129
Project Zero-G, 175
Spacelink, 129, 187
PROSITE database, 139
SPAN (Space Physics Analysis Network), 10
sending electronic mail to, 37
PSC (Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center), 251-58
Biomedical Initiative, 255
SSD (Solid State Disk), 221
High Performance Parallel Interface (HiPPi),
255
statewide networks, 12
and K-12 education, 178
PSCNET, 12
contact information, 199
contact information, 202-12
Statlib software archives, 146
PSI white pages, 162, 163
StuffIt, 51
PSInet
subdomain, 9
contact information, 201
supercomputers, 217-62
sending electronic mail to, 36
and NSFNET, 218-19
public data networks, 180
and simulations, 217
database of software, 133
NSF sponsored sites, descriptions, 229-62
R
programming strategies, 226-27
uses of, 218
regional Internet networks
contact information, 198-200
SURAnet, 11
contact information, 200
RFCs (Requests for Comments), 14
obtaining by FTP, 14
SWISS-PROT database, 140
root directory, see file directories
T
S
tar program (tape archive), 49, 51
SCINET, 10
SDSC (San Diego Supercomputer Center), 25962
TCP/IP
brief description, 7
TELNET, 53-65
SDSCnet, 12
basic information needed to use, 53
contact information, 200
brief sampler of TELNET services, 54
SEQANALREF, 139
sample sessions, 55-63
Sesquinet, 11
technical references, 63
contact information, 199
shell archive, 50
trouble-shooting, 63
TENET
sig, see electronic mail, signature file
SIMBAD, 129
contact information, 200
THEnet, 11
simulation
supercomputer software, 232, 254
sending electronic mail to, 37
tn3270, 19, 53
Sinet
and OPAC access, 106
sending electronic mail to, 36
smileys, 29
U
soc.net-people, 162
Social Sciences, also see Area Studies
bibliographies, online, 122
USAN (University Satellite Network), 10
USENET, 71-86
data archives, online, 122
Trademarks and Copyrights
and K-12 education, 186, 195-96
wuarchive (Washington University Archives), 132
etiquette, 78
WVNET
FTP archives of information about, 80
contact information, 200
FTP archives of past articles, 81
news feed, 71
X
newsgroups, defined, 71
regional hierarchies, 73
X.500, 162
sample session, 81-83
USENET address server, 162, 163, 165-66
USENET discussion groups, 168
X.500 directory service, 166
user-id
sample session, 167
construction of, 23
defined, 23
Y
uuencode, 51
UUNET, 10
sending electronic mail to, 37
V
Yale Bright Star Catalog, 130
yellow pages, online, see directory services
Z
vector hardware
ZOO, 51
and supercomputers, 220
vector processing
explained, 222-23
VERnet
contact information, 200
visualization, scientific
and supercomputers, 220, also see
supercomputer site descriptions
VNET
sending electronic mail to, 37
VxWorks
software archives, 133
W
WAIS (Wide Area Information Server), 147-58
explained, 148
mailing lists about, 157
references, 158
sample session, 149-56
WESTNET, 11
contact information, 200
white pages, online, see directory services
WINCS, 10
WiscNet
contact information, 200
Trademarks and Copyrights
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Northwestnet NUSIRG Internet Guide, by
Jonathan Kochmer
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